The National Electronic Media Council of Latvia has banned the broadcasting of all Russian TV channels in the country, LETA reports with reference to the chairman of the organization, Ivars Abolins.

The measure will come into force on June 9 and will affect 80 TV channels registered in Russia, broadcasting of which is now available in the country.

Such entertainment channels as E TV, Illusion +, Kino24, Mir TV, Hunting and Fishing, Pepper!, Russian Illusion fell under the restrictions.

As stated in the council, the decision was made on the basis of a recently established legal norm: media from states that "threaten the territorial integrity and independence of another country" cannot operate in Latvia.

The organization added that the blocking will be in effect until the end of the Russian special operation in Ukraine and the return of Crimea.

At the same time, Abolins said that the council would issue a broadcasting license to the TV channel Dozhd*, which suspended its work in Russia in early March.

From June 9, Dozhd will be included in the list of channels registered in Latvia, it will be broadcast from Riga.

According to Abolins, the relevant negotiations went on for about three months.

Recall that earlier Latvia had already banned the broadcasting of a number of Russian TV channels, in particular, it blocked the RT website in Russian, banned the broadcast of RBC, NTV, REN TV and others.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that Western countries are trying to take advantage of the anti-Russian hysteria fanned by themselves in order to deal with the Russian media and deprive society of sources of an alternative point of view.

The diplomat recalled that the Latvian authorities banned the broadcasting of the Russian TV channels Rossiya RTR, Rossiya 24 and TV Centr International.

“The desire and attempts to get even with the Russian media is a purposeful and long-term policy of Latvia, lasting not a year, not two, or even five years,” Zakharova said.

At the same time, the work of the Russian media is presented as a threat to national security, she drew attention.

“In the last two years alone, Riga has already restricted the broadcasting of 41 Russian media outlets through various decisions.

Examples of such moderation of the information space are nothing more than censorship,” the representative of the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

  • © RIA Novosti / Press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry

In addition, in March, the Latvian authorities included 25 Russian citizens on a list of undesirable persons and banned them from entering the country for an indefinite period.

Among the persons undesirable for the country are journalists Maria Sittel, Dmitry Guberniev and Tina Kandelaki, filmmakers Nikita Mikhalkov, Vladimir Mashkov, Anastasia Makeeva, musicians Polina Gagarina, Nikolai Rastorguev and other members of the Lyube group, Vasily Gerello, Natalia Podolskaya, Victoria Daineko, Denis Matsuev, Valery Gergiev, Victoria Tsyganova, Stas Mikhailov, ballet dancer Sergei Polunin and others.

On June 3, the European Union approved the sixth package of sanctions against Russia.

The restrictions affected the oil and banking sectors, as well as the work of a number of Russian TV channels.

According to the EU statement, the broadcasting of three Russian TV channels will be suspended on the territory of the union - these are RTR-Planet, Russia 24 and TV Center.

At the same time, employees of these TV channels will be able to continue work in the EU that is not related to broadcasting, for example, to take interviews and conduct research. 

At the end of March, the UK imposed sanctions on the RT TV channel, the Rossiya Segodnya news agency and a number of Russian journalists. 

The sanctions list includes 14 individuals and legal entities from Russia.

In addition to ANO TV-Novosti (RT channel) and MIA Rossiya Segodnya (Sputnik radio), RT CEO Alexei Nikolov, Sputnik editor-in-chief Anton Anisimov and VGTRK journalist Sergei Brilev were subject to restrictions.

Recall that on March 18, the British media regulator Ofcom announced the revocation of RT's license to broadcast in the UK.

The RT press service called this decision political and noted that London had been looking for a formal reason to close the channel for several years, but wanted to maintain the appearance of freedom of speech.

The press service emphasized that the West wants to ban any points of view that differ from the official ones.

Mass media recognized as a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation of 08/20/2021.