VILNIUS, Lithuania – Latvia is joining Lithuania in banning Russian state television broadcasts because it found that several programs about the Ukraine crisis were tendentious and not in the Baltic nation's security interests.
Latvian media council spokeswoman Sanita Blomniece told the AP on Monday that a three-month suspension of RTR Rossiya broadcasts will begin April 8.
The move follows a court decision in neighboring Lithuania upholding a similar ban by the country's media watchdog of broadcasts by Russian RTR Planeta because some programs were biased and "likely aimed to incite discord."
Both channels are owned by Russian state broadcaster VGTRK.
The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have sizeable Russian-speaking minorities and are increasingly concerned about the Kremlin's actions toward Ukraine and its declaration that it will protect Russian speakers abroad.
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