Russia blocked several European media. Including the Polish website of Belsat

As part of the 14th sanctions package, the European Union blocked three Russian media today. In response, Russia blocked 81 European media outlets, including the Polish website of Belsat.

It was announced in a special statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation:

– In response to the decision made by the Council of the European Union on May 17 to ban the “broadcasting activities” of three Russian media outlets (RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta), which takes effect today, June 25, counter-restrictions on access from the Russian Federation’s territory to a specific media will be implemented. It is in response to the systematic dissemination of false information about the ongoing special military operation in the media outlets in several EU member states and EU-wide media operators.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that they have warned multiple times, at various levels, that “any politically motivated persecution of journalists and unjustified bans on the broadcasting of Russian media in the EU will not be ignored.”

– Despite this, Brussels and the capitals of the EU countries have chosen the path of escalation, forcing Moscow to take mirroring and proportionate countermeasures regarding another form of illegal ban. The responsibility for such a development of events lies solely with the leadership of the European Union and the countries of this association that supported such a decision, as stated by a subordinate department to Sergei Lavrov.

At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that if the restrictions imposed on Russian media are lifted, the Russian side will reconsider its decision also about the mentioned media operators.

Blocking access to the Polish website of Belsat

The decision to include Belsat on the sanctions list is purely political. Our portals are already blocked in Russia due to joint regulations from the regimes of  Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka. In 2021, Belsat TV and its websites were labeled as “extremist media” and then as an “extremist group” in Belarus. It means that they cannot also be broadcast in the Russian Federation.

However, the Russians and the Belarusians are bypassing this ban by accessing Belsat’s websites through a VPN and receiving Belsat content on various social platforms, including Facebook, Telegram, X (formerly Twitter), VKontakte, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Our website and TV program Vot Tak (vot-tak.tv), which already has 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, is aimed primarily at Russian audiences and readers and viewers from other former USSR countries.

List of banned media:

The order is given in the original, according to the Cyrillic alphabet.

Austria

1. State-owned radio and television company ORF (orf.at);
2. Osterreich media holding (oe24.at);

Belgium

3. Le Vif Journal (levif.be);
4. Knack Journal (knack.be);

Bulgaria

5. Mediapool information portal (mediapool.bg);
6. Newspaper  24 Chasa (24chasa.bg);

Hungary

7. Information portal 444.hu;

Germany

8. Der Spiegel Daily (spiegel.de);
9. The weekly Die Zeit (zeit.de);
10. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (faz.net);

Greece

11. Greek Radio and Television EPT (ert.gr, ertnews.gr);
12. Skai media holding (skai.gr);
13. Mega TV Channel (Megatv.com);
14. Proto Thema newspaper (noweprotothema.gr);

Denmark

15. Berlingske Journal (berlingske.dk);
16. Information Portal (information.dk);

Ireland

17. National broadcasting company RTE (rte.ie);
18. The Irish Times newspaper (irishtimes.com);
19. The Irish Independent newspaper (independent.ie);

Spain

20. El Mundo newspaper (elmundo.es);
21. El Pais newspaper (elpais.com);
22. EFE news agency (efe.com);
23. Spain’s national television, Televisión Española (rtve.es);

Italy

24. National TV channel LA7 (la7.it);
25. La Stampa newspaper (lastampa.it);
26. La Repubblica newspaper (repubblica.it);
27. Radio and television company RAI (rai.it, rainbows.it);

Cyprus

28. Politis newspaper (politis.com.cy);
29. Cyprus Times news portal (cyprustimes.com);
30. Cyprus Mail newspaper (Cyprus-mail.com);

Latvia

31. Latvian Television and Lithuanian Radio 4 (lsm.lv);
32. apollo.lv portal;
33. Internet television tvnet.lv;
34. Diena portal (diena.lv);

Lithuania

35. LRT portal (lrt.lt);
36. Portal 15min.lt (15min.lt);
37. Portal lrytas.lt (lrytas.lt);

Malta

38. State television Television Malta TVM (tvmnews.mt);
39. Times of Malta newspaper (timesofmalta.com);
40. The Malta Independent newspaper (independent.com.mt);
41. Malta Today newspaper (maltatoday.com.mt);

Netherlands

42. Nos radio and television company (nos.nl);
43. Nrc newspaper (nrc.nl);
44. Algemeen Dagblad newspaper (ad.nl);

Poland 

45. Belsat Television, including its Polish online editorial office (belsat.eu, belsat.pl);
46. Portal of the newspaper Новая Польша (novayapolsha.eu, novayapolsha.com, novayapolsha. pl);

Portugal

47. RTP Internacional TV channel (rtp. pt);

   48. Publico newspaper (publico.pt);

49. Expresso newspaper (expresso. pt);
50. Analytical and information project Observador (observador.pt);

Romania

51. Pro TV International Television (stirileprov.ro, protv.ro);
52. Digi24 Television (digi24.ro);
53. B1TV Television (b1tv.ro);

Slovakia

54. SME newspaper (sme.sk);
55. Dennik N portal (dennikn.sk);

Slovenia

56. Nova24 portal (Nova24.si, Nova24tv.si);
57. Democratia portal (Demokracija.si, Democratja.eu);

Finland

58. Ilta-Sanomat newspaper (is. fi);
59. Iltalehti Newspaper (iltalehti.fi);
60. Helsingin Sanomat newspaper (hs. fi);
61. Radio and television company Yleisradio (yle.fi);

France

62. LCI Television (tf1info.fr);
63. Le Monde newspaper (lemonde.fr);
64. La Croix newspaper (la-croix.com);
65. Liberation newspaper (liberation.fr);
66. Lexpress Journal (lexpress.fr);
67. Radio France radio station (radiofrance.fr);
68. Agence France-Presse news agency (afp.com, afpforum.com);
69. CNews Television (cnews.fr);
70. Arte Television (arte.tv);

The Czech Republic

71. Ceska Televize Television (ceskatelevize.cz);
72. Seznam Zpravy portal (seznamzpravy.cz);

Sweden

73. Television SVT (svt.se);
74. Sveriges Radio radio station (sverigesradio.se);

Estonia

75. Information portal propastop.org;
76. The national broadcasting corporation ERR (err.ee);
77. Delfi portal (delfi.ee);

Pan-European media

78. Agence Europe (agenceurope.eu);
79. Politico (www.politico.eu, www.politico.com);
80. Svoboda Satellite Package project (rsf.org);
81. Euobserver portal (Euobserver.com).

 

pj/belsat.eu

Translated by PEV