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YouTube may be forced to comply with Russian laws in case of violations

According to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin agrees that Russian supervisory authorities have the right to demand compliance with the law from international companies if they also operate on the territory of the Russian Federation

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. YouTube may be forced to comply with Russian laws if the authorities find violations in the platform’s actions in relation to RT channels, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"If our regulating agencies come to the conclusion that this indeed violates our legislation, then we cannot and should not rule out the possibility of taking measures to force this platform to comply with our laws," Peskov said.

He was also asked if YouTube's actions present an extreme case that could lead to the platform’s ban. "There is no such thing as an ‘extreme case’. Any violation of the law is an extreme case. Surely, there should be zero tolerance for such violations of the law," Peskov emphasized.

Peskov added that the Kremlin agrees that Russian supervisory authorities have the right to demand compliance with the law from international companies if they also operate on the territory of the Russian Federation. "This is the same company that is present both in Germany and in Russia," he said.

Earlier, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said that YouTube deleted two German-language RT channels (RT DE and DFP). Russia’s media watchdog sent a letter to Google demanding to remove all restrictions from these channels and explain the reasons for the decision. Google would face a fine of up to 1 mln rubles ($13,745) if the company refuses to comply with the request and 3 mln rubles ($41,235) upon another refusal.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it would appeal to the authorities with a proposal to take response measures against YouTube and German media in Russia.