Google blocks Ekho Moskvy YouTube channel in Europe - editor-in-chief

MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - Google has blocked the Ekho Moskvy YouTube channel in Europe, Ekho Moskvy Editor-in-Chief Alexei Venediktov said.

"Good morning! Yesterday, when the Prosecutor General's Office blocked our broadcast and website, Google synchronously shut down our YouTube channel in Europe due to our connection to Gazprom," Venediktov said on Telegram.

Ekho Moskvy Deputy Editor-in-Chief Maxim Kurnikov said online that, according to radio listeners, the YouTube channel is unavailable in Germany, Finland, and some other European countries.

The Ekho Moskvy broadcast in Russia was stopped and its website was blocked at 9 p.m. on March 1, and the same happened to the Rain TV channel (designated as a foreign-agent media outlet by the Russian Justice Ministry). The Russian Prosecutor General's Office accused both media outlets of spreading fake information about the Ukraine situation. Ekho Moskvy and Rain TV said they would challenge the decision of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and denied any wrongdoing.

Ekho Moskvy is part of the Gazprom Media holding. It has been operating since August 22, 1990. The Ekho Moskvy broadcast was halted in August 1991 on the orders from the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP), but the radio station managed to go back on the air.