Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has demanded from Google, which owns YouTube video hosting, to unblock Duma TV – the channel for the lower house of the Russian parliament, Google has also been asked to provide the reasons for the blocking.
Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the Duma, accused Washington of breaching “the rights of Russians” while foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says “YouTube has sealed its fate.”
“The United States wants to have a monopoly on the diffusion of information,” Volodin said on Telegram. “We cannot allow that.”
According to Moscow, Duma-TV has more than 145,000 subscribers. It airs clips of parliamentary debates and interviews with Russian lawmakers.