Russia threatens Montenegro after banning some Russian media

The Montenegrin government has decided to ban the broadcasting of a number of Russian media outlets following international restrictive measures imposed by the EU Council, such as Sputnik and RT Balkan, as announced in the Official Gazette of Montenegro on June 25.

The decision provides for the prohibition of broadcasting or enabling, facilitating or otherwise contributing to the broadcasting of content of legal persons, entities or bodies subject to the European Union’s restrictive measures according to the following Russian media:

• Sputnik

• RT Balkan

• RT – Russia Today English

• RT – Russia Today UK

• RT – Russia Today Germany

• RT – Russia Today France

• RT – Russia Today Spanish

• Rossiya RTR/RTR Planeta

• Rossiya 24/Russia 24

• TV Centre International

• NTV/NTV Mir

• Rossiya 1

REN TV

• Pervyi Kanal

• RT – Arabic

• Sputnik Arabic

• Oriental Review

• Tsargrad

• New Eastern Outlook

• Katehon.

“This includes, but is not limited to, transmission or distribution via any media such as cable, satellite, IP-TV, internet services, online video sharing platforms or applications, whether new or pre-installed.”

This decision was forwarded by the Government of Montenegro to the Electronic Media Agency, which on July 3 sent a notification on EU restrictive measures for Russian media to audiovisual media service providers (AVM), the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU Delegation to Montenegro, Director of the Electronic Media Agency, Section for monitoring the work of AVM service providers, Section for legal and economic issues, Service for information and communication technologies and Service for joint works.

On this occasion (09.07), Russia warned that it would take appropriate measures against Montenegro, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

“We consider another attack by the Montenegrin government as a hostile act of open censorship aimed at giving the appearance of legitimacy to the most serious violation of media freedom and in return gaining the favor of the Europeans.” “Hoping for the promised progress on the ‘European way’ to suit the Russophobic transatlantic agenda, they are ready to continue the policy of undermining the democratic foundations of their society and state and denying their citizens the right to access information.” , she said.

“These hostile steps will not go unanswered,” Zakharova emphasized.

A commentary published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the Agency for Electronic Media of Montenegro has instructed the relevant departments of the country and local telecommunications companies to “completely stop broadcasting a number of Russian media by 13.03.2019 at the latest. than July 10”. These are about 20 Russian media operators, including “Channel One”, “Russia 1”, “RT”, “Sputnik”, “NTV”, “REN TV” and others.

Zaharova added that “this step is nothing more than an attempt to retroactively formalize legally the situation that arose at the beginning of 2022”./The Geopost/