MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2020) The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has expressed concern about the ban on the broadcast of several RT channels in Latvia and Lithuania, media reported on Monday, citing AIB head Simon Spanswick.
According to RT broadcaster, Spanswick, sent letters to the media regulators of the two Baltic countries, as well as to ambassadors in the UK, where the AIB main office is located.
Spanswick, in particular, assumed that the measures had been taken on the basis of incorrect information and without standard regulatory procedures. He expressed hope that Riga and Vilnius would review their decisions. AIB head also noted that such a ban contradicts the commitments Lithuania and Latvia assumed by joining the Global Coalition on Freedom of the Media.
Earlier in July, the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) banned the broadcasting of five RT channels � namely RT, RT HD, RT Spanish, RT Documentary HD and RT Documentary. It followed a similar decision made by neighboring Latvia in late June. In explaining their decision to outlaw RT channels, Latvian and Lithuanian authorities said it was because Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of the Rossiya Segodnya media conglomerate, was under EU sanctions. However, Kiselev has no involvement with RT.
Notably, Rossiya Segodnya and RT are two different legal entities. RT is not chaired by Kiselev, and its editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, is not under any EU sanctions.
In early July, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said that his government was mulling over banning RT channels as well.
Secretary general of the International Federation of Journalists, Anthony Bellanger has decried the ban as a violation of the freedom of the press and open censorship.
