Russian TV

Lithuania did not breach EU law when it introduced restrictions on a Russian TV channel for incitement to hatred, the European Union Court of Justice ruled on Thursday.

A Lithuanian court has instructed Baltijas Mediju Aliance (BMA), a company registered in Latvia, to discontinue unlawful broadcasts of Russian television programs on website tvdom.tv.

Lithuania's media watchdog will ask for explanation from Russia-registered broadcaster TV Tsentr over a TV program containing incitement to hatred and defamation of the state.

Lithuania's media watchdog decided on Wednesday to suspend the broadcasting of the Russian TV channel RTR Planeta for three months for inciting war, discord and hatred toward nations.

A grandmother from Klaipėda, Lithuania has received an unexpected letter from a world leader congratulating her on the end of World War II.

Journalists of the Russian TV channel Rossiya who tried to get into a Russian opposition forum in Lithuania have been blacklisted and asked to leave the country, the State Security Department said.

The leader of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (LLRA) MEP Valdemar Tomaševski says there is nothing sensational about his meeting with representatives of Russian TV channel Perviy Baltiysky Kanal (First Baltic Channel).

The NTV Mir Lithuania, a Russian-language TV channel that had its broadcasts suspended in Lithuania, gave a biased coverage of the situation in Ukraine, the United Kingdom's communications regulator Ofcom has ruled.

The European Commission has acknowledged that the measures Lithuania took against Russian-language TV channel RTR Planeta were well-founded as its programmes incited to hatred.

The three-month ban to rebroadcast the Russian-language TV channel RTR Planeta in Lithuania has expired.

The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania has not established any gross violations by the Russian-language TV channel NTV Mir Lithuania and will not impose any sanctions as the key problematic show is no longer aired, commission chairman Edmundas Vaitekūnas said on Wednesday.

The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania plans to evaluate actions of the Russian-language TV channel NTV Mir Lithuania, the watchdog's chairman Edmundas Vaitekūnas says.

Commenting on recent reports that the rebroadcasting of one more Russian TV channel could be suspended in Lithuania, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius says that such bans are not the best way to fight propaganda. Instead, he says, Lithuania should create high-quality alternatives.

The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania, which recently suspended broadcasts of a Russian TV channel, says it has sufficient evidence on violations by another Russian television to ban it from Lithuanian airwaves.

The European Union's Ambassador to Russia Vygaudas Ušackas has called for an official Russian position on the public threats made on television by Duma member Vladimir Zhirinovsky "to redeem Vilnius and Klaipėda".

The Seimas of Lithuania on Thursday backed amendments, drafted by President Dalia Grybauskaitė, on countering hostile propaganda, after 79 lawmakers voted in favour, four were against and 27 abstained.

The Lithuania Tribune spoke to Andrei Illarionov, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute's Centre of Global Liberty and Prosperity. We questioned whether Lithuania’s decision to cancel the Russian TV channel, РТР Планета, for three months was a correct one.

The Lithuanian parliament's Education and Science Committee on Wednesday gave a green light to the amendments initiated by President Dalia Grybauskaitė on countering hostile propaganda.

Lithuania is very likely to be the only European Union country to completely boycott the end of World War Two commemoration event in Moscow on 9 May. Unlike our closest neighbours - Latvia and Estonia - we will not be even sending a diplomat to the ceremony.