TV Rain to appeal decision on blocking its website - editor-in-chief

MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - The TV Rain television channel (designated by the Russian Justice Ministry as a foreign agent media outlet) will appeal the Prosecutor General's Office decision on blocking its website, TV Rain Editor-in-Chief Tikhon Dzyadko said.

"Our position is that, as law-abiding citizens, firstly, we didn't violate anything. And of course, we will appeal this. But as long as this hasn't happened, we are continuing to work for as long as we can, on alternative platforms, because [...] Roskomnadzor's [the Russian telecommunications watchdog] notification concerns the tvrain.ru resource, the decision to block which we will appeal in courts," Dzyadko said on TV Rain's YouTube channel.

The Prosecutor General's Office's demand does not specify what reports by the TV channel broke the law, he said.

TV Rain has fully communicated the Russian Defense Ministry's position, as well as "the official position of the other side, with which Russia has had diplomatic relations until lately," Dzyadko said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office reached out to Roskomnadzor to demand that it restrict access to the Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy) radio station and the TV Rain television channel "due to purposeful and systematic circulation on Echo of Moscow's and TV Rain's websites of information calling for extremist activities and violence, as well as knowingly false information regarding Russian service members' actions within the framework of the special operation to protect the DPR and LPR [Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic]."

Echo of Moscow was cut off from the air at 9:00 p.m. Moscow time on Tuesday, and its website was blocked. The radio station is determined to appeal these decisions.