MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Service (RTRS) is on the verge of bankruptcy, the culture minister said Wednesday.

"A critical situation has evolved at RTRS, which sends the signal throughout the country," Alexander Sokolov said. "RTRS is in effect on the brink of bankruptcy, which could be followed by a crisis of the entire television and broadcasting system."

He said he had alerted the lower house of the Russian parliament last summer to the danger of the loss of broadcasting satellites.

Commenting on the minister's statement, a RTRS spokesman said that the company was indeed on the verge of bankruptcy and that under-funding was the main reason.

Andrei Pautov said the Finance Ministry's outstanding debt to RTRS was about 2 billion rubles ($74 mln).