• After less than five months on the air, TV Rain, Russia’s last independent TV station, has been shut down in Latvia.
• The channel, which in Russian is called “Dozhd,” is said to show things that support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
• In a post on social media, TV Rain called the claims “unfair and silly.”

The channel, which in Russian is called “Dozhd,” is said to show things that support Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a post on social media, TV Rain called the claims “unfair and silly.”

On December 8, it will be told to stop broadcasting.

TV Rain says it will do what the judge says, but it will still be on YouTube.

Latvia’s media regulator, the National Electronic Media Council (NEPLP), said that the decision to revoke was made “because of threats to national security and public order.”

Early in March, just a few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the channel was blocked in Russia.

After that, a lot of employees left Russia and later started to rebuild Dozhd in other countries. Since the invasion, it is one of several independent media outlets that have moved out of Russia or stopped working there.

The NEPLP gave the channel a fine of €10,000 (£8,613; $10,488) earlier this month for showing a map that showed occupied Crimea as part of Russia’s territory.

It was also criticised because it called the Russian army “our army” in an article about how to supply new recruits. Alexei Korostelyov, who was a host for the station, was fired because of this.

The State Security Service (VDD) is looking into what happened and says it has warned many times about the “various risks that come from Russia’s so-called independent media moving their operations to Latvia.”

The VDD said that these risks include the possibility that media representatives have ties to Russian intelligence and security services. There is also a risk if Moscow tries to use Latvia as a target to try to change public opinion online and in other places.

NEPLP said of its decision to take TV Rain’s broadcasting licence away that it was “convinced that TV Rain’s management did not understand the nature and severity of any single violation or any group of violations.”

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