TV Rain to be taken off air also in Lithuania after losing Latvian license

VILNIUS - TV Rain (Dozhd), an independent Russian-language TV channel will no longer be accessible in Lithuania as well after the Latvian watchdog stripped it of its license, the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (LRTK) said on Tuesday.

Latvia's National Electronic Mass Media Council's decision to strip the TV channel operating in exile of its license will come into force on Thursday night, LRTK said.

The license gave the right to distribute the content produced in EU countries, Russia, the US and elsewhere.

The channel was licensed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on June 6.

The Latvian media watchdog said the decision to revoke the broadcasting license was made due to threats to national security and public order.

Latvia's news agency LETA reports that the decision was made based on the TV channel's recent violations, including the absence of subtitles in the state language, the depiction of Crimea on a map as part of Russia, and also a TV presenter referring to Russia's army as "our army" and possibly expressing support for it, which the channel denies.