The desire to prohibit broadcasting a television channel with a large audience is a sign of an undemocratic state, Elena Panina, member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told RIA Novosti when commenting on the ban on broadcasting RT television channels in Lithuania.
Earlier, the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) banned the broadcasting of five RT channels in the country.
The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission announced a ban on broadcasting five RT channels in the country. The vice-president of the Union of Russian Journalists Timur Shafir on Sputnik radio commented on the decision of the Lithuanian authorities.
“The desire to shut up the TV channel, whose position attracts a wide audience, is a sign of an authoritarian, if not totalitarian society. It does not even smell like democracy,” Panina said.
She noted that in the 90s Lithuania was favorably distinguished from other Baltic states by the absence of political discrimination of the Russian-speaking population, which were not massively deprived of citizenship and were not recorded in the “occupiers”, as in neighboring Latvia and Estonia.
“However, these times are long gone, and today, by the degree of Russophobia, Lithuania not only caught up with, but even surpassed its Baltic neighbors. It seems that the Lithuanian authorities were very worried that they could not ban RT before Latvia, where it had already happened, and were in a hurry to do it before Estonia, where such a ban is only being discussed, “Panina concluded.
Last week, the broadcasting of the RT, RT HD, RT Arabic, RT Spanish, RT Documentary HD, RT Documentary, RT TV channels was banned by Latvia, arguing that they belonged to Dmitry Kiselev, general director of MIA Russia Today, which is under EU sanctions.
At the same time, Kiselev is the general director of MIA Russia Today, while the chief editor of RT is Margarita Simonyan, to whom no EU sanctions apply. These companies are two separate legal entities, this information has long been known and is in the public domain. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the ban on broadcasting of seven RT channels in Latvia is an outrageous and unauthorized step.
In early July, Simonyan ironically noted on her Twitter that after Lithuania decided to ban broadcasting of RT channels after Latvia, it is worth waiting for Estonia to join the action to protect its Arab and Hispanic population from RT.
Earlier, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said that the country’s government is considering the possibility, following the example of Latvia, to ban broadcasting of RT television channels in the country.
The Baltic authorities repeatedly obstructed the work of the Russian media. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced clear signs of a coordinated line of these states. Cases of harassment of the media in the Baltic countries, the Russian ministry noted, “clearly demonstrate what demagogic statements about the commitment of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn to the principles of democracy and freedom of speech are worthwhile.”