The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would request Russian governmental agencies to take retaliatory measures against YouTube and German media outlets following the video hosting platform’s decision to block German-language projects of Russia’s RT media holding, Tass informs.
Russian Foreign ministry says will seek retaliatory measures against YouTube, German media
STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 29, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Considering the nature of the incident, which is fully in line with the logic of the information warfare unleashed against Russia, taking retaliatory symmetrical measures against the German media in Russia would seem not just an appropriate, but also a necessary thing to do, especially taking into account that [the German media] were caught interfering into our country’s domestic affairs on several occasions in the past," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"Considering that multiple requests for returning to compliance with international obligations to protect media freedoms and the freedom of speech were ignored by the German side, we view such measures as the only possible way to encourage our partners to engage in a constructive and meaningful dialogue about this unacceptable situation."
German-language projects of Russia’s RT media holding were blocked by YouTube in an attempt to silence media sources that German officials find inconvenient, the Russian Foreign Ministry added.
"The goal of this aggression against the Russian media holding’s projects is evident: to silence information sources that go beyond the media agenda that German officials find convenient," it said.
"Accounts of two media operators of the RT Group - RT DE and Der Fehlende Part - have been removed without the possibility of being restored. The internet giant’s attempt to link such outrageous actions with some abstract ‘violations of the community’s internal rules’ in a bid to justify this evident act of censorship and suppression of the freedom of expression cannot be scrutinized and will not be scrutinized," the ministry continued.
"There can be no doubts that such unlawful actions against a media project, ranked fourth in the "News and Politics" subsection of the German-language media popularity rating, were taken by YouTube with open and covert support of the German authorities and local media," the statement says.
According to the document, the German government and media engaged in "perennial bullying" of correspondents of Russian broadcasters, including "blocking of bank accounts, public slander and so forth."
The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that as a result of YouTube’s actions, about 700,000 subscribers of the above-mentioned projects lost the opportunity to receive information from the source of their choice.
YouTube deleted two RT German-speaking channels without an option to bring them back, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said on Tuesday.
Later in the day, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) sent a letter to Google, demanding to remove all restrictions from RT DE and DFP channels and explain the reasons for their imposition, the agency’s press office said.
