Armenia suspended the license of the broadcaster of the Russian radio station Sputnik

The Armenian Television and Radio Commission has suspended for 30 days the broadcasting license of the “Tospa” company, which, in particular, broadcasts the programs of the Russian radio station “Sputnik Armenia”.

One of the reasons for this decision was the author’s program of the Russian TV and radio host Tigran Keosayan. The Commission considered that in the issue dated November 17, he spoke about Armenia and its citizens “in mocking and humiliating terms”, “called for actions prohibited by legislation”, and also, asking himself the question “will Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan remain alive”, actually called for violence

“Sputnik” is a Russian news agency that produces content for a foreign audience in more than 30 languages. Its leaders are pro-Kremlin journalists and media managers Dmitry Kiselyov and Margarita Simonyan. The latter is also the wife of Tigran Keosayan.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sputnik websites and radio stations were blocked in many Western countries due to the spread of false information and propaganda.

• In recent months, relations between Armenia and Russia have deteriorated sharply, the parties have made accusations against each other at the official level. For example, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan harshly criticized Moscow for its inaction during the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which, in his opinion, showed the “inefficiency” of the CSTO bloc, which includes Armenia and is led by Russia. The Armenian authorities also stated that the Russian mass media unleashed a “hybrid war” against Yerevan and violated the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of mass communications. The Kremlin, in turn, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the strengthening of Armenia’s ties with the European Union and the country’s accession to the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.