Latvia revoked the broadcasting license of the independent Russian TV channel Dozhd. The National Council for Electronic Mass Media (NEPLP) announced today in Riga that the step was taken “in connection with the threat to national security and public order”. Doschd had to stop broadcasting his program from Latvia on Thursday night.
Latvia granted Dozhd a broadcasting license in June after the TV station in Russia stopped broadcasting in early March due to authorities’ crackdown on the media. The opposition broadcaster, which had made a name for itself through its outspoken criticism of the Kremlin and its war against Ukraine, was recently targeted by the authorities in Latvia precisely because of its reporting on the Ukraine war.
Call for support of the Russian army sent
At the end of last week, the NEPLP initiated proceedings against Dozhd for broadcasting an appeal to support the Russian army. Editor-in-chief Tikhon Dsjadko later apologized for this. According to the broadcaster, the moderator of the show was fired.
The media regulator had previously fined the broadcaster, also known internationally as TV Rain, for violating Latvian regulations. “The NEPLP believes that TV Rain’s management fails to understand and recognize the nature and seriousness of each individual violation as well as the aggregate of violations,” tweeted NEPLP CEO Ivars Abolins.
Doschd will rely on YouTube in the future
However, Doschd announced on Twitter that they wanted to continue working on YouTube in the future. All allegations against the channel are “unfair” and “absurd”.
The Kremlin reacted to Doschd’s ban on broadcasting with derision: Many people seem to have a better time abroad than at home. There, in contrast to their homeland, they believed they were free. “This is a striking example of the incorrectness of such illusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency.