Russia urges UNESCO to respond to deletion of RT channels in Germany — mission
The Russian diplomatic mission said that it reserved the right to raise the RT DE issue at the meeting of the UNESCO Executive Board on October 6-20
PARIS, September 29. /TASS/. Russia expects UNESCO to respond after the YouTube video-sharing platform terminated two German-language channels managed by the RT media holding, Russia’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
"We urge UNESCO to immediately respond to the flagrant censorship and suppression of freedom of expression following the deletion of ‘RT DE’ and ‘Der Fehlende Part’ accounts," the tweet says.
The mission saw "the bitter irony" in the fact that YouTube deleted the channels on the International Day for Universal Access to Information, marked on September 28.
The Russian diplomatic mission said that it reserved the right to raise the RT DE issue at the meeting of the UNESCO Executive Board on October 6-20.
"The goal of those behind the YouTube demarche is clear - to restrict access to information," the diplomatic mission tweeted.
Situation around RT DE YouTube channel
On Tuesday, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said that the video-sharing platform YouTube had removed two German-language channels (RT DE and DFP). The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had taken place "with open and covert support of the German authorities and local media" and that they will ask the relevant Russian agencies to take tit-for-tat measures against YouTube and German media outlets in Russia.
The Russian media regulator (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media) sent a letter to the US tech company Google, which owns YouTube, demanding that it lifts all restrictions on the RT channels and to explain why they had been imposed. If Google refuses to unblock the channels, the tech giant may face a fine of up to one million rubles (about $13,750), and in case of a second refusal, it will be liable to a fine of three million rubles (about $41,220).
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the video-sharing platform may be compelled to comply with Russian legislation provided that the supervising agencies find violations in the platform’s actions in regard to the RT channel.