Maria Zakharova

Google has blocked on YouTube the profile of the Duma TV channel, where broadcasts of plenary sessions of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and private comments of deputies are published. The reason is standard and fluid – “violation of the terms of use” of the platform.

Russian authorities reacted harshly to the incident. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made it clear that the days of legal functioning of video hosting in the country are actually numbered.

– wrote on the telegram channel.

Andrey Klihas, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, described the blocking of the channel as a “Western version of freedom of speech”.

– he says in his comment.

– Head of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

Russian video bloggers reacted to Volodin’s words with obvious irony. Blogger Pavel Astapov wrote:

Viacheslav Volodin

First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications Sergei Boyarsky, in an interview with Gazeta.Ru, described YouTube’s actions as “treacherous” and “irrational”, but also noted that it is also blocking Duma TV. It’s unlikely that his channel will be the “groundstone” for a possible ban on YouTube in Russia.

Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor demanded that the Duma TV channel be blocked immediately and explain why it was subject to restrictions. But the authors of the channel announced that they are ready to develop it on other platforms, such as Rutube and VKontakte.