Pro-Kremlin movement Anti-Maidan has written to the Prosecutor General accusing the independent television channel Dozhd of repeatedly breaking Russian media law on terrorist and extremist groups, the RBC news site reported Tuesday.
The law requires registered media outlets to specify that any extremist or terrorist group on the Kremlin’s list of banned organizations is illegal within Russia when mentioned in a report. Anti-Maidan says that Dozhd have failed to do this over 30 times, when discussing the Islamic State.
“Anti-Maidan was created to ensure that all political changes happen lawfully. When we discovered that the Dozhd television channel was breaking the law, we told the Prosecutor General,” Anti-Maidan spokesperson Nikolai Starikov told the TASS news agency.
Dozhd director Natalia Sindeyeva told RBC that Dozhd attentively observes all Russian laws, and that an internal control mechanism is in place to make sure all website publications are legal.
“We cannot see any infringements on our website, but we will carefully check again immediately” said Sindeyeva.
Dozhd was previously investigated for media law violations, as well as licensing and labor violations, in December 2015. The inspection was carried out three months after Alexei Zhuravlyov, head of the far-right political party Rodina, complained about the outlet to Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.
Dozhd was one of the first channels to cover the 2011 protests against perceived corruption in the Russian parliamentary elections. By Dec. 10, 2011 Dozhd was showing a white ribbon, the symbol of the protests, by its on-screen logo. It was subsequently asked to provide authorities with copies of its coverage to determine if any media laws had been broken.
The Islamic State is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.
