Ukraine moves to ban Russian channels

Iurii Artemenko

Ukraine’s National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting has ruled that all TV distribution providers must exclude a number Russian TV channels that do not comply with the country’s laws from their platforms no later than March 11.

Channels to be dropped by leading cable operator Volia include My Planet, Vremya: Dalekoe i Blyzkoe, Science 2.0, Park Razvlechenyy, Telekafe, Sovershenno Sekretno, NSTV, Shanson TV, Sarafan, Avtoplus and Boets.

Volia said it would abide by the ruling, and replace the excluded channels with alternative services. It said that none of the banned services are in the top 20 by viewership on its platform.

Chairman of the National Council Iurii Artemenko said that the main reasons for the banning of Russian TV channels was that they were in violation of the law of national security and legislation on advertising.