Latvian Court Restores Broadcast License for Exiled Russian Channel Dozhd Amid Ongoing Political Tensions

A court in Latvia has reversed the 2022 ruling that revoked the broadcast license of the exiled Russian television channel Dozhd, approximately two and a half years after the government in the Baltic state deemed the channel a danger to national security.

Dozhd, referred to as TV Rain in English, was one of several Russian media outlets that moved operations abroad following the Kremlin’s implementation of wartime censorship laws during its extensive invasion of Ukraine. The channel briefly transmitted from Riga.

In December 2022, Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) revoked Dozhd’s license, alleging that it portrayed the annexed region of Crimea as a part of Russia and broadcasted content seen as supportive of Russian military forces. Dozhd denied these allegations and subsequently relocated to the Netherlands, where it obtained a Dutch broadcasting license in January 2023.

Ivars Āboliņš, chairman of NEPLP, announced the administrative court’s decision on X and stated his intention to challenge it, asserting that “Dozhd will not return to Latvia.”

In response, Dozhd’s editor-in-chief, Tikhon Dzyadko, hailed the court’s verdict and expressed optimism that this ruling would facilitate the channel’s re-entry into cable networks in Latvia and other Baltic nations.

“Justice has been restored after two and a half years,” Dzyadko shared on Telegram.

Since Russia commenced its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have been among the strongest critics of the Kremlin.