Ivars Abolins, head of the Latvian National Media Council, said that the country is open to Russian media and journalists amid the revocation of the broadcasting license of the Dozhd TV channel (recognized by the Ministry of Justice in Russia as a foreign agent). He spoke about this in an interview with the Current Time TV channel (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign media agent).

“I want to emphasize the main thing: this whole story with the Dozhd TV channel shows that Latvia is open to Russian media and journalists. More than ten media outlets connected with Russia operate in Latvia, and a large number of journalists have come here. And since the spring, when this process began, we have not recorded a single violation, zero cases. In turn, in the case of the Dozhd TV channel, we are constantly faced with various kinds of problems,” Abolins said.

He stressed that it is only necessary to comply with the laws of Latvia. According to the head of the department, the TV channel does not realize the seriousness of the violations. Abolins stressed that Dozhd can no longer be in the Latvian information space.

On December 6, the National Electronic Media Council of Latvia decided to revoke the broadcasting license of the TV channel due to threats to national security and public order. The broadcasting of the channel will be terminated on December 8, the head of the department specified.