Canada Bans TV Service Providers From Broadcasting RT, RT France - Telecoms Commission

TORONTO (Sputnik) - Canada has banned the transmission of Russian broadcasters RT and RT France, citing the alleged exposure of Ukrainians to hate on the basis of race or national origin, the state telecommunications commission announced on Wednesday.

The ruling comes just weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the commission to review RT’s license in the country.

"The Commission removes Russia Today and RT France from the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution. Canadian BDUs are no longer authorized to distribute these services in Canada," the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said in its decision.

While the ruling officially puts a halt to RT’s presence on Canadian airwaves, the broadcaster was pulled from all major television packages weeks earlier.

In the early hours of February 24, Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine, responding to calls from the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics for help against intensified attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation was solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure, emphasizing that the civilian population is not in danger.

Since the start of the operation, a number of jurisdictions, including the European Commission, have decided to censor Russian media and affiliated journalists.

RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said the Western countries always wanted go get rid of Russian media because the latter provided informative and balanced reporting, and consequently they are using Russia's special operation in Ukraine as an excuse to do so.

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