Moscow Fumes, Vows Response, After State Media Telegram Channels Blocked In EU

Moscow is fuming after at the start of this week several Russian state media outlets were blocked for EU-based users of the messaging app Telegram. Starting Sunday the channels of RIA Novosti, Rossiya 1, Channel One, NTV, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta were inaccessible in the European Union.

Kremlin officials slammed the „act of censorship” – with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova describing „the systematic cleansing of all undesirable sources of information from the information space” as ongoing in the West.

She further condemned the „constant campaign of repression against Russian media in nearly all European Union countries,” adding that „these attacks and similar ones against our media will not go unanswered.”

„We reserve the right to respond in the same manner,” she said, but without specifying what form the retaliation will take. The EU had already since the Ukraine war’s start cracked down on the major Russian state television international networks.

More recently the EU moved against RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta, accusing the outlets of spreading propaganda on behalf of the Kremlin.

It remains unclear the degree to which Telegram and EU authorities are acting in coordination on this:

The messaging app Telegram has blocked access to channels belonging to major Russian state-owned news outlets across much of Europe, including Poland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, and Latvia.

When users based in the affected European countries attempt to access these channels, they see a notice saying the content is unavailable because it “violated local laws.”

Neither Telegram nor European officials have publicly acknowledged the restrictions but Russian media outlets including RIA Novosti, Izvestia, NTV, Rossiya 1, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta all confirmed they had been blocked.

Late last summer Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was indicted in France for allegedly allowing criminal activity on the app. France’s arrest of him at a Paris airport when his private jet arrived was highly unusual, given they went straight after the CEO and founder.

He has since vowed to cooperate on cracking down on criminal activity on the app, and be more responsive in providing data to law enforcement authorities.