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Cable TV operators and providers in eastern Ukraine restore Russian TV channels broadcasts

More than 90% of providers in the Luhansk region and 40% of providers in the Donetsk region have resumed the broadcasts of Russia’s Channel One, RTR-Planeta, Rossiya 24 and NTV-Mir.

KIEV, April 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Providers and cable TV operators in eastern Ukraine are restoring broadcasts of Russian TV channels in violation of a temporary court ban, Larisa Mudrak, the deputy head of Ukraine’s National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasts, said on Wednesday.

More than 90% of providers in the Luhansk region and 40% of providers in the Donetsk region have resumed the broadcasts of Russia’s Channel One, RTR-Planeta, Rossiya 24 and NTV-Mir.

“We are registering all these offences. All the incidences should be regarded as offences because they violate a court ruling,” Mudrak said, adding the providers and TV operators could face criminal charges for their actions.

“We are handing over all the facts to law enforcers, the prosecutor general’s office and the Interior Ministry. However, I would like to say that each particular situation needs concrete investigation,” Mudrak stressed.

On March 25, a Kiev District Administrative Court obliged all providers and cable TV operators to temporary stop the broadcasts of four Russian television channels, which allegedly violated Ukraine’s laws and the European Convention on Trans-Frontier Television.

On April 15, Kiev’s District Administrative Court announced a recess in considering a lawsuit of Ukraine’s National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasts to the Torstat Company, Ukraine’s distributor of satellite channels, which had suspended the broadcasts of four Russian television channels, including Rossiya 24 TV news channel, Channel One, RTR Planeta and NTV-Mir, until April 29, 2014.

The court upheld the temporary ban on Russian TV channels’ broadcasts.