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Coronavirus pandemic

Kremlin slams Google’s move to block Russian news outlet’s account as unacceptable

Earlier in the month, Google deleted a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation from the NTV company’s YouTube account

© AP Photo/Thibault Camus

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. The Kremlin believes that Google’s moves to block the accounts of Russian media outlets are unacceptable, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. When asked about the Kremlin’s attitude towards such actions, he said that it was "highly negative."

"We believe that it is unacceptable. We hope that these decisions will be reviewed," he said, commenting on reports that the Federal News Agency’s account had been blocked. Peskov was hopeful that the decision concerning the Federal News Agency would be reviewed like it had been done in relation to other news outlets.

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The Federal News Agency said earlier that Google had blocked its account, as well as its YouTube account, "deleting tens of thousands of the agency’s reports and documentaries." According to the media outlet, Google explained the move by saying that corporation rules had been violated.

Google, in turn, told TASS that it "complies with all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws. If we find that an account violates these laws, we take appropriate action."

Earlier in the month, Google deleted a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to the nation from the NTV company’s YouTube account. However, YouTube restored the video after receiving a request from Russia’s telecom watchdog. Google said in a statement later that the decision to block the video had been made by mistake.

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