YouTube has blocked accounts of the Tsargrad TV channel in Russia and its former chief editor, pro-Kremlin analyst Aleksandr Dugin.
Representatives of Google, which owns YouTube, said on July 28 that the accounts were blocked due to the violation of laws on sanctions and trade regulations.
The account of the TV channel, which has more than one million subscribers and positions itself as an outlet for conservative Orthodox Christians, was disabled without the right to restore, Google said.
The founder and owner of the Tsargrad TV channel, Konstantin Malofeyev has been under U.S. sanctions for about six years over his participation in the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea by Russia in 2014 and his public support for Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's east, where some 13,200 have been killed in an ongoing conflict.
The TV channel's editor, Daria Tokareva, said YouTube blocked the channel’s account without warning, adding that the company will fight in court to restore the account.
Earlier in May, Facebook cited U.S. sanctions when it blocked the Instagram accounts of the head of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Russian lawmaker from Chechnya Adam Delimkhanov, the speaker of the Chechen parliament Magomed Daudov, and the deputy prime minister of the Chechen government Abuzaid Vismuradov.
YouTube Blocks Accounts Of Pro-Kremlin Analyst, Orthodox TV Channel In Russia
Pro-Kremlin analyst Aleksandr Dugin (file photo)