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The Latvian authorities have decided to ban the broadcasting of nine Russian television channels in the country at once, RIA Novosti reports. The decision in the National council on electronic media was substantiated by the fact that they are allegedly linked to Yuri Kovalchuk, who is under the European sanctions.
The representative of the council expressed confidence that Kovalchuk was the true beneficiary of the channels. It is alleged that the restriction will remain in force until the sanctions are lifted.
Among the banned television channels are Petersburg - Fifth Channel, Dom Kino, Telecafe, Poekhali and others.
Earlier the Latvian public mass media were advised not to use materials of Sputnik information agency. The Latvian politicians were going to follow Washington’s example and recognize the Russian media that broadcast on the territory of the Baltic Republic as foreign agents.
Vilnius also continues to struggle with the Russian media, the representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova said. According to her, the actions of the Lithuanian and Latvian authorities put at risk the Russian-speaking population of the republics.
Russkiy Mir reported that in the spring, Latvian parliamentarians supported amendments to the bill, according to which almost all (ninety percent) television programs should be broadcasted in European languages, to which the Russian language did not belong. In the event that the parliament passes this law, the Russian-speaking population won’t be able to watch most of the TV channels in Russian.
Russkiy Mir
