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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Wednesday, 21.05.2025, 06:29

Lithuanian watchdog orders additional fees for viewers of Russian RTR Planeta

BC, Vilnius, 08.12.2015.Print version
The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission on December 8th 2015 instructed all rebroadcasting companies in the country to move the Russian-language RTR Planeta TV channel to paid packages for fueling war and hatred, informs LETA/BNS.

The commission's decision came after a unanimous vote. The obligation will be in effect for a year.

 

Under the decision, rebroadcasting companies cannot subsidize, support and have discounts for the additional packages that include RTR Planeta, furthermore, fees for the packages cannot be lower than the costs incurred by the rebroadcasters.

 

The watchdog established that RTR Planeta's Nov. 29 broadcast, Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, featured instigation of war and hatred in the discussion of the downing of the Russian warplane by Turkish forces. This is the first major violation reported since June in Russian-language TV channels broadcast in Lithuania.

 

In the excerpt of the broadcast played during the commission's meeting, Russian MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky said Turkish people were "a nation of wild barbarians," adding that Turkey should be "brought to its knees" by way of military attacks.

 

"We need an air raid on any part of Turkey (...), the Turkish army must be destroyed," said the Russian MP.

 

The decision will take effect after it is published on the commission's website – this should be done on Thursday. An appeal against the finding may be filed within a month.

 

The Lithuanian watchdog had fully banned RTR Planeta's broadcasts on April 13 to July 13 this year in the first procure of the type in the European Union (EU).






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