Lithuania suspends broadcasting of Russian TV channel “RTR Planeta”

It was for the first time that the decision to stop broadcasting for inciting war and hatred was applied in the European Union. The European Commission had been notified about the decision.

The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission on Wednesday instituted a three-month suspension of broadcasts of the Russian-language television channel RTR Planeta.

According to the Commission, the TV channel was inciting war and hatred, repeatedly violating the Law on Provision of Information to the Public. The commission said the European Commission had been notified of the violations and the planned sanctions.

"Consultations with the country broadcasting the TV content and the European Commission did not lead to a consensus within 15 days of the warning, and the violations continued," the Lithuanian panel said.

Commenting upon the situation with the ban, Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius assessed it as "a highly responsible step”. “This was a topic for some time already, and I think that the people of Lithuania who were watching the channel could see that it provided a very large amount of misleading information about Lithuania," he said.

The decision will take effect on 13 April and will not require a court sanction.

This was the first time the procedure was applied in the European Union.