The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) has suspended the free reception of Russia Today (RT) channels retransmitted or distributed over the internet in the Republic of Lithuania.
In a statement, the regulator says that “in the past, the LRTK had taken note of the decision of the Latvian National Electronic Media Council (hereinafter – NEPLP) to suspend the said programmes (RT, RT HD, RT Spanish, RT Documentary and RT Documentary HD) and its call on other EU members to do the same, but this required appropriate conclusions from the competent authorities.
“After receiving a conclusion from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania – the institution competent for the implementation of sanctions – the LRTK decided to suspend the free reception of the above-mentioned television programmes in Lithuania”.
LRTK notes that in Lithuania the RT channels are distributed by three of the 45 economic entities it regulates in the area of TV channel retransmission.
Its chairman Mantas Martisius also says that its decision to suspend the RT channels is the same as that given by NEPLP, namely that RT is effectively controlled by Dmitri Kiselev, “who is a subject to sanctions imposed by Council of the European Union (EU) for undermining of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, NEPLP imposed a ban on RT channels last week.
