3 Mar 2022 09:06

Access restored to YouTube channel of Ekho Moskvy radio in Europe

MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Google has restored public access to the channel of the Ekho Moskvy radio for European YouTube users.

"YouTube has unblocked us abroad, and now you can watch us from anywhere in the world again. Thank you for support and warm messages. Ekho is working for you," Ekho Moskvy said in a statement on YouTube.

Ekho Moskvy radio host Alexander Plyushchev has confirmed this information on Telegram. So did his colleague on the radio Yevgeny Buntman in a livestream on the internet.

It emerged on Wednesday that Google blocked the radio's YouTube channel in Europe over its links to Russia's Gazprom. The video hosting service earlier switched off the channels of several Russian state media for European customers.

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, which is 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.

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