Latvia has revoked a broadcast licence for TV Rain, the independent Russian TV station broadcasting from exile, following a scandal over its coverage of the war in Ukraine.
The liberal television station relocated to Riga, the Latvian capital, as well as Tbilisi and Amsterdam shortly after Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
TV Rain’s website had been blocked by Russian regulators and its journalists feared they would face criminal charges for speaking out against the war and under new laws for “discrediting the Russian army”.
On Tuesday, Latvia became the second country this year to cut TV Rain’s broadcasts, saying the decision was taken “in connection with threats to national security and public order”. TV Rain called the accusations against the channel “unfair and absurd”.
The decision followed on-air remarks by an anchor who said that he hoped the station’s reports on abuses and mismanagement by the Russian state during Moscow’s mass mobilisation drive “were able to help many servicemen, including, for example, with equipment and just basic amenities at the front”.
The statements were taken as proof that the television channel sympathised with the Russian military, which the anchor had called “our army”, and had even provided equipment to the armed forces itself.
Tikhon Dzyadko, the station’s editor-in-chief, soon clarified the station was not providing any aid to the Russian army and that the journalist misspoke. The station also fired the anchor.
Nonetheless, the damage had been done. On Tuesday, Latvia’s National Electronic Media Council (NEPLP), a media regulator, said the station had committed several violations of its standards and would also be cut off from broadcasting on Latvian television on 8 December.
The channel had also been charged with failing to provide Latvian subtitles in its coverage and for having displayed a map that showed Crimea, the peninsula occupied by Russian forces in 2014, as part of Russia. It is recognised internationally as part of Ukraine.
The regulator also said it “was convinced that the management of TV Rain did not understand the nature and gravity of each individual infringement, nor of any set of infringements”.
“The laws of Latvia must be respected by everyone,” tweeted Ivars Abolins, chairman of the NEPLP.
The furore over the TV station, which has produced critical reporting of the Russian government for more than a decade, provides a vivid illustration of distrust of the Russian opposition and opponents of the war in exile.
Latvia’s state security service announced an investigation into TV Rain last week, saying it “has repeatedly alerted the decision-makers about the various risks emanating from Russia’s so-called independent media relocating their activity to Latvia”.
A number of prominent European figures have spoken out in support of TV Rain, noting that the TV station is one of few homegrown media outlets capable of reaching Russians with an anti-war message.
“It’s war, and emotions are running high, but the wisdom of this decision eludes me. It will mightily please the Kremlin and be used by them,” wrote Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “I hope TV Rain can find a new home and continue its important mission.”
The Russian government appeared gleeful at the decision, saying it showed that freedom of speech in Europe was an “illusion”.
“Some always think that it’s better somewhere else than at home,” said Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. “And some always think that it’s freedom somewhere else and it’s unfreedom at home. This is a vivid example demonstrating how erroneous such illusions are.”
The TV station vowed to fight on, saying it would continue to broadcast online while seeking a longer term solution.
“Don’t bury us too soon,” wrote one journalist who had worked with the channel. “We are working. We are managing it.”
