Latvia announced on Tuesday the revocation of the license of the independent Russian anti-Kremlin television in exile Dojd ("
Rain
"), accused of demonstrations of support for Moscow.
The channel, which moved to Riga in July after being blocked in Russia in early March, shortly after the attack on Ukraine, reacted by denouncing on Twitter the "
unfair and absurd
" accusations.
She said she would stop broadcasting on cable but remain on YouTube.
The accusations made by the Latvian audiovisual authority include the presentation of a map where Crimea (Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014) is part of Russia.
They also relate to a call by television to provide “
equipment to those Russians who are on the front lines
” and the absence of Latvian translations from its information services.
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Since the invasion of Ukraine, fear of Moscow's aggressive policy has grown in Latvia, a Baltic country neighboring Russia and whose population of two million inhabitants includes a quarter of Russian speakers.
The Latvian regulator's decision was denounced by Reporters Without Borders, for whom it is "
unworthy of a European country which defends freedom of the press
".
According to Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, "the censorship of an independent Russian media undermines the efforts to fight Kremlin propaganda, the very objective of the Latvian authorities, declared the organization on its webpage.
Tempered reaction in Moscow
Moscow commented on the decision in a relatively neutral tone.
“
Some people always think that elsewhere is better than at home, that elsewhere there is freedom and at home there is none.
(Dojd) is an example of the erroneousness of such illusions
,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
In Washington, the State Department spokesperson avoided commenting on Riga's decision.
Latvia has offered "
impressive leadership
" on Ukraine and supported Russian journalists who provide "
truthful and independent information on the record, scale, extent of Russian brutality in Ukraine
"
,
Ned said .
Price
.
"
We think it's important for the Russian public in Russia to have access to this kind of information
," he told reporters.
In particular, the regulator opened an investigation into Dojd's appeal to its viewers for the supply of equipment to the front.
In this appeal, according to the regulator, the chain expressed “
the hope that we can help with basic equipment on the front
”.
A wave of protests followed and the presenter who launched the call, Alexei Korostelev, was fired by the channel last week.
Main Russian opposition television
Dojd “will stop broadcasting on December 8,”
said Ivars Abolins, head of the National Electronic Media Council, on Twitter.
"Latvian laws must be respected by all". The regulator's decision can be challenged on appeal.
Dojd, founded in 2010 had been the main opposition television in Russia, but its independence and the choice of its reports led to its marginalization by cable operators from 2014. It was blocked on March 1, in the wake of of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, widely condemned by its journalists.
In Riga, it set itself the goal of providing independent information and combating Kremlin propaganda.
Several other media have taken refuge in the Latvian capital, including Novaya Gazeta Europe and the Moscow editorial staff of Deutsche Welle.
The independent site Meduza has already been working on it since 2014. Dojd was sentenced on Friday to a fine of ten thousand euros for having distributed - by mistake, according to her - a map locating Crimea, annexed by Moscow, in Russia.