Russian state media must be expelled from EBU - Baltic journalists' organizations

TALLINN - The associations of journalists of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to exclude Russian state media organizations from its membership.

"We welcome the EBU's decision to prohibit the representatives of the aggressor country to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Today, however, such actions alone are not enough, because the media controlled by the Russian state has helped to initiate and continue the war propaganda, which not only brutally violates the values of the free world, but also contributes to the massacre of people," the statement says.

The associations say that no civilized organization today can tolerate liaisons with the Russian regime. With this in mind, they "call for the process necessary to remove Russian state-owned media organizations from the EBU be considered and initiated as soon as possible."

"We here, in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, feel particularly acutely that the war propaganda by the Russian state media, together with the Russian leaders and the army, are responsible for the crimes against humanity and the whole war in Ukraine. We therefore consider it right and necessary to keep Russia in complete isolation," said the president of the Estonian Association of Journalists, Helle Tiikmaa.

The call was signed by Tiikmaa, the board chairman of the Latvian Association of Journalists, Ilja Kozins, member of the Latvian Union of Journalists Imants Liepins and the chairman of the Lithuanian Journalists Union, Dainius Radzevicius.

The EBU has 113 members, most of which are public service media organizations from 56 Euro-Mediterranean countries, and the organization is working together with 31 more organizations from all over the world. The mission of the EBU is to uphold the values of public service media and to provide high quality content to its members. On Feb. 25, the EBU announced that Russia will not be allowed to take part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest.