Russia was concerned about freedom of expression in the Baltic countries: it defended the punished propagandists

At the beginning of this year, following the violations by the Lithuanian and Latvian authorities, legal action was taken against two Russian television channels: RTR Planeta (Lithuania) and Rossija RTR (Latvia). This was not the first time, but such actions in the Kremlin media have been met with particularly loud statements about alleged restrictions on freedom of expression and bans on Russian-speaking people receiving information in their mother tongue.

However, a closer look at both cases discussed in the Russian media reveals that the allegations of restrictions on freedom of expression are just another dose of misinformation.

Second offense in half a year

At the beginning of February, the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRKT) announced that for the second time in the last six months it had detected an infringement in the Russian television program RTR Planeta broadcast in Lithuania and therefore the suspension process was continuing. channel rebroadcasting.

At its meeting on January 13, the LRKT considered the information published on the RTR Planeta Žinios (Vesti) program and decided that it had seriously violated the Public Information Law, inciting hatred and spreading disinformation. The program covered the events of January 13, 1991 in Vilnius, and well-known Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky once again launched militant threats against the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.

The last time a violation was detected on the RTR Planeta channel was in October last year, when the 60-minute program “60 Minutes” was said to incite war, discord and national hatred.

These commission decisions were met with accusations by the Sputnik news portal. According to the lawyer interviewed by this news portal, such a decision by the LRKT aims to deprive the Russian-speaking population of the opportunity to communicate and receive information in their mother tongue, the decision itself mentions freedom of expression and human rights and it is politically motivated.

The EU is firmly on the side of Lithuania

It is not the first time that similar accusations have been made, all the more so since it is not the first time that RTR Planeta has drawn the attention of the LRKT and the decisions made by the institution, although condemned by the Kremlin media. , have received the support of the EU institutions.

LRKT, having taken all legal actions, has already used restrictive measures against the RTR Planeta channel on four occasions: in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018. In all cases, the European Commission evaluated the LRTK’s decisions as legal, reasonable and in accordance with EU legislation.

According to the decision of the European Commission adopted in 2018, according to the LRTK, Lithuania has shown that in the programs of RTR Planeta there were repeatedly serious and obvious violations of the prohibition of the spread of hate: several countries, including the Baltic States, were threatened with occupation and military retaliation and national hatred.

The two violations recorded on the RTR Planeta channel during the last six months do not mean that the retransmission of this last television is restricted in Lithuania here and now; a third violation is needed. Currently, LRKT will contact the Russian company that operates the television channel and the licensing authority for Russian television in France, which will inform them about the violations and the possible consequences. The European Commission will also be informed of any irregularities.

If no consensus is reached within a month of the notification to the European Commission, or in the case of repeated violations, you may suspend the broadcast of RKT Planeta by LRKT for a period of one year or more.
However, the network of Russian-language television channels available in Lithuania remains extensive enough, and allegations that the country is trying to restrict the population’s ability to communicate in Russian are unfounded.

The same arguments in Latvia

The government of the Baltic countries constantly obstructs the Russian media. These are concerted actions. The crackdown on the Russian media in the Baltic countries shows the true value of the demagogic statements by Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn about their commitment to democracy and freedom of expression.

With such statements, the Kremlin media welcomed the suspension of the broadcast of the Rossija RTR channel in neighboring Latvia.

On February 8, the National Council for Electronic Media (NEPLP), which oversees Latvian television networks, suspended broadcasting of the Russian government-owned Rossija RTR television channel in Latvia. The decision took effect on February 15.

According to the official NEPLP report, a total of four rapes were recorded in July-December. Surprisingly, a fact related to this NEPLP decision appears to be that three of the four infractions that led to the decision to suspend Rossija RTR were recorded at different times on the same show, ’60 minutes’.

The July broadcast incited hatred against Ukraine. In September, the program called for the annexation of the Estonian city of Narva, sending military planes to Berlin and Stockholm. On the October show, the leader of democratic Belarus, Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, was not only cursed, but also urged to hang her in the center of Minsk. Eventually, both Brussels and Kiev were threatened to be destroyed.

The latest violation was recorded in Vladimir Solovyov’s program, which called for the reconstruction of the borders of former Russia (Soviet Union) on January 1, 1990, using military force.

This is not the first time that sanctions of this kind have been imposed on the Latvian television channel Rossija RTR. 2019 On January 31, NEPLP decided to suspend the broadcasting of Rossija RTR on the territory of Latvia for three months. 2019 May 3 The European Commission has confirmed that the measures that the Latvian NEPLP has decided to take in response to the breaches identified in the Rossija RTR programs are compatible with EU law.

The stranger on the list preaches

Restricting the activities of Russian television channels operating in Lithuania or Latvia is not so simple: it is not enough to base decisions on political will or other motives that the Kremlin spokesmen are trying to instill.

Both Lithuanian and Latvian law, as well as EU law, prohibit incitement to hatred, incitement to violence and incitement to military conflict. Decisions of both Lithuanian and Latvian institutions are taken in accordance with the European Union Audiovisual Media Services Directive and transmitted not only to authorized or alerted television channels, but also to the European Commission and other countries. of the EU where Russian TV channels are registered.

The Latvians provided information about the infringements not only to the representatives of the Rossija RTR channel, but also to the European Commission and Swedish media regulators (since Rossija RTR is registered in Sweden). As already mentioned, the Lithuanian regulator also provided information on violations to RTR Planeta, the European Commission and the French authorities (where the channel is licensed).

As Rossiya-RTR, like RTR Planeta, is registered in the EU, its broadcasts are subject to the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which obliges them not to restrict retransmissions of programs from another Member State, unless they infringe clearly national legislation. Restrictive decisions require very strong and clear evidence, which also needs to be confirmed by the European Commission.

Finally, the fact that the Baltic States respect freedom of expression is well illustrated by international classifications. In 2020, Estonia ranked 14th, Latvia 22nd and Lithuania 28th in the annual World Press Freedom Index, which is compiled annually by the international organization Reporters Without Borders to measure media freedom in different parts of the world. Estonia belongs to a group of countries where the situation is considered “good”, while in Latvia and Lithuania the situation is “quite good”.

Concerned about freedom of expression in the Baltic countries at the time, Russia is at the shameful tail of a list: between Honduras and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia is ranked 149 out of 180, and the situation of press freedom of the country is described as “bad”.