On 25 February 2022 the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania made a unanimous decision to temporarily suspend the free retransmission of 6 Russian language television programmes in the territory of Lithuania due to the persistent violations of international and national legal acts and the threat to national security and territorial integrity, instigation and propaganda of war and incitement to national hatred related to the Russia’s declared war against Ukraine. The decision was based on the provisions of article 3(3) of the Audiovisual Media Service Directive, which states “A Member State may provisionally derogate from paragraph 1 of this Article where an audiovisual media service provided by a media service provider under the jurisdiction of another Member State manifestly, seriously and gravely infringes point (b) of Article 6(1) or prejudices or presents a serious and grave risk of prejudice to public security, including the safeguarding of national security and defence” and article 341.4 of the Lithuanian Republic Law on the Provision of Information to the Public (https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalAct/lt/TAD/b90a7c321c7b11ecad9fbbf5f006237b?jfwid=10nvo6shnk).
The decision was taken on the basis of the investigation carried out by the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania. It was established that the broadcast content of the programmes of the TV channels Belarus 24, NTV Mir, Pirmais Baltijas Kanals Lietuva (PBK), Planeta RTR, Rossija 24, TVCi was found as a threat to national security and integrity of Lithuania.
Free retransmission of television programmes Pirmais Baltijas Kanals Lietuva (PBK) and TVCi was suspended for 3 years and Planeta RTR, Rossija 24, NTV Mir and Belarus 24 – for 5 years.
Previously, free reception of television channels NTV MIR Lithuania, RTR Planeta, REN TV Baltic, TVCI and PBK Lithuania was suspended in the territory of Lithuania 11 times in 2013-2018 due to instigation of war, incitement to hatred and discord.
The English version of the decisions No. KS-30, No. KS-31, No. KS-32.