“Rain” called the accusations of the Latvian authorities absurd

TV channel Dozhd (included in the register of foreign agents) commented on the decision of the National Electronic Media Council of Latvia (NEPLP) to recall broadcasting licenses because of the threat to state security. The channel called “unfair and absurd” accusations from the Latvian authorities.

“The authorities of Latvia have decided to revoke the license from the Dozhd TV channel. The TV channel will stop broadcasting on cable, but will remain on YouTube. We continue to work and consider all accusations against us to be unfair and absurd,” Dozhd said in a statement.

Also, the channel’s CEO Natalya Sindeyeva (recognized as a foreign agent) in an interview with Meduza (included in the register of foreign agents) said that due to the revocation of the broadcasting license, the channel would lose about 20% of its income, which came from cable broadcasting. According to her, the leadership of Dozhd also regrets the dismissal of the presenter Alexei Korostelev.

“Of course, you don’t get fired for a mistake – and we all knew it was a mistake. You could take it off the air, stop, think. We did badly, we understood that we were doing badly. Of course, we are very disgusted by this,” said Ms. Sindeeva.

The site of the Dozhd TV channel was blocked in Russia on March 1 by decision of Roskomnadzor. The Prosecutor General’s Office called him a threat to the constitutional order of Russia. On March 3, the channel stopped working in Russia. On June 6, Dozhd received a license to broadcast in Latvia.

On December 1, on the air of Dozhd, host Alexei Korostelev said a phrase about helping the Russian military. He read out a request to send information about violations against the mobilized to the editorial office’s e-mail, so that journalists could talk about it. “We hope that many military personnel, including us, were able to help, for example, with equipment and with simple basic amenities at the front,” Mr. Korostelev added. Channel Guide fired he was reminded that the channel had always opposed Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

An administrative case was opened against the TV channel, NEPLP also fined the media for €10,000 for demonstrating on the air the image of Crimea as part of Russia and calling the Russian army “our army”. The NEPLP also said that this was the second serious violation of the “Rain”, the third threatened with the revocation of the license. Minister of Defense of Latvia Artis Pabriks declared on the start of the process to revoke the residence permit for the TV channel’s employees.

Dozhd’s studio in Latvia is located in Riga. The channel also has studios in Tbilisi (Georgia) and Amsterdam (Netherlands).

Olesya Pavlenko