Russian TV and Radio Stations That Have Been Banned in Lithuania

Lithuania bans Russian TV channels for inciting war.

_{Image from LRT.}

After contacting the Chief Press Specialist at the Lithuanian Ministry of Health in my previous article, I followed the sources of information about Russian disinformation and propaganda that he gave me in our interview. One of them was DebunkEU.org, a non-governmental think tank that was founded by a young man named Viktoras Dauksas.

After seeing Dauksas and the rest of the workers in the documentary entitled Truth as a Weapon, I found him on LinkedIn and sent him a few interview questions (I've made contact, and he and I are currently going back and forth over phone and email with the questions).

So, while I'm waiting, I wanted to go ahead and do a review article of the documentary, a film that I hope each and every one of my readers looks at, especially if any of you are interested in how manipulative Putin can be over television, radio, and the internet.

In the video, one of the most shocking things I saw was when the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission was blocking dozens of Russian television programs. To dig a little deeper, I went to the Commission's website, and the first thing I saw was an article about how much they have been banning Russian stations from Lithuanian broadcasts.

I wanted to find out what the list was of Russian programs that they were banning from Lithuania television (they didn't say exactly which ones in the documentary, just that there were eight of them from Russia that they were banning).

They were in the process of banning the ninth one when the documentary was being recorded, which was a Russian TV station named MIR. But then I found out that, according to Broadband TV News, the commision was actually banning 32 channels that were being controlled and operated by Russia's Gazprom Media.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February of 2022, Gazprom Media has been subject to “restricted financial measures'' due to OFAC, or the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control This is the part of the US Treasury Department that enforces trade sanctions against those who perform activities that promote the escalation of the use of weapons of mass destruction, as well as other national security hazards.

Simply put, if the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commision had kept on retransmitting those 32 stations on television and the internet in Lithuania, then they themselves would have been found guilty of violating sanctions, which wouldn't be good for Lithuania's national security.

In the documentary, the Commission was examining the aforementioned station MIR. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, was on their TV screen, blatantly lying to the Lithuanian television audience. “Dear citizens of Russia,” the Kremlin begins. “Dear friends. Today, I'd like to reflect on Tragic developments in Donbas, and the key issue of Russian security. NATO expands eastwards. NATO is approaching Russian borders...”

Woman views Putin on Russian TV.

_{Image from Open Democracy.}

At this point in his speech, the members of the commission are shaking their heads, and have had enough of his outright lies. A few of them say out loud in the meeting “I think this is enough…”, referring to the amount of misinformation evidence that is clearly shown by Putin on the freely-broadcasted Lithuanian television station.

The commission goes on to rule unanimously to ban the MIR station, being that it violated article 19 of the law by “spreading war propaganda and inciting war”.

According to one of the members of the commission that was interviewed shortly after the MIR station was banned, a delegate of the Catholic Church, Mr. Valdas Kilpys, stations like these are being banned in order to “keep the minds of Lithuanian citizens healthier.”

After going on to view another video in an April 25th report in the Sky News about how Putin was claiming that "Neo-Nazis" were "using kids as human sheilds in Donbas", I started to get the sick-to-my-stomach feeling that I used to get when writing my articles about former U.S President Donald Trump, especially when he would just be blatantly lying about very serious things, the same way Putin is now.

I took the liberty of compiling a detailed list of many of the Russian stations that are being banned in Lithuania by the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission:

Avto Radio. This is a live online Russian radio station that is now banned in Lithuania for poisoning the ears of listeners.

Boks TV. A 24/7 Russian network that features martial arts and boxing.

Kukhnya TV. A Russian cooking show that CBS Studios International actually acquired the rights to back in 2013 according to The Hollywood Reporter.

KVN TV. A popular Russian comedy program.

LA Minor. A Russian music channel that features Russian Folk Music

KHL TV. The official channel of the Kontinental Hockey League, who in fall of 2021 agreed to streaming rights deals with both Portable.TV and ESPN according to Streamable and Sports Pro Media.

M-1 Global. A Russian based mixed martial arts station.

Nostalgia TV. Caters to Soviet Union styled nostalgia programs.

NTV Mir. An independent Russian TV company. 

NTV Pravo. A station that features Russian commercials.

Pyatnitsa. A Russian Fashion and Entertainment Channel, pronounced “Friday!” in English.

Russkaya Noch. Means “Russian Night”, and is a well-known channel in Russia.

TB-3. A commercial-free, Moscow-based television channel.

THT Music. A popular Russian music channel.

Zee TV. A general Russian entertainment channel .

Malysh. A Russian kids channel with cartoons and educational programming.

Sources:

14 April 2022. Documentary “Truth as a Weapon”. DebunkEU. Retrieved from https://www.debunkeu.org/documentary-truth-as-a-weapon

2022. The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission. Official Website. Retrieved from https://www.rtk.lt/ and https://www.rtk.lt/lt/naujienos/stabdomas-bendroves-gazprom-media-kontroliuojamu-32-televizijos-programu-retransliavimas-lietuvos-respublikos-teritorijoje

2022. OFAC, The Office of Foreign Assets Control - Sanctions Programs and Information. U.S. Office of the Treasury. Retrieved from https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/office-of-foreign-assets-control-sanctions-programs-and-information

25 April 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin Claims ‘Neo-Nazis' are Using ‘Children as Human Shields' in Donbas. Sky News. Retrieved from https://news.sky.com/video/russian-president-vladimir-putin-claims-neo-nazis-are-using-children-as-human-shields-in-donbas-12598852

Woods, L. 1 Oct 2020. The Task of Writing About Donald Trump. Medium. Retrieved from https://limuswoods.medium.com/the-task-of-writing-about-donald-trump-8f9b686a671

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