The migration service of Latvia asked the management of the Dozhd TV channel (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), which had previously had its license deprived, to explain the purpose of the stay of 13 employees in their country. Maira Rose, head of the Latvian citizenship department, said that after these clarifications, the department will decide whether to deprive the TV channel’s employees of their work visa.
“13 visas were issued to the TV channel. The goal was to ensure the transmission of the channel. Among the recipients are directors, cameramen and other employees. Therefore, now that the license has been revoked, we need to understand whether the purpose of issuing visas has been preserved,” Maira Rose told Rus.LSM.
According to her, the cancellation of a license is not a reason for the automatic cancellation of work visas issued to Dozhd employees. Ms. Rose explained that “Rain’s” work on Youtube is “also, in a sense, program making.” You said that if channel employees don’t have jobs in Latvia, they can get visas “for humanitarian reasons”.
On the December 1 broadcast of Dozhd, journalist Aleksey Korostelev read the editorial board’s request to send messages about violations by mail during the mobilization. He expressed the hope that the channel could help solve them. The Latvian authorities saw it as support for the Russian army.
The TV channel lost its Latvian license on 6 December. The Latvian authorities said this decision was taken in the interests of “state security and public order”. Dozhd’s editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko (recognized as a foreign agent) said the channel hoped to resume broadcasting in Latvia.
As it became known later, the Latvian authorities had several other complaints against the TV channel. In particular, Dozhd was accused of not being accompanied by a Latvian translation that complies with the laws of the country. Additionally, the channel was fined €10,000 for a map showing Crimea as part of Russia. The broadcast of the channel was also stopped in Estonia and Lithuania.