YouTube Says Request on Sanctioned RT Employees Not Political

The US-based YouTube online video hosting service stated its request on sanctioned RT employees was not politically motivated, RT Head of Online Projects Kirill Karnovich-Valua said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the broadcaster said it had received a request from YouTube urging it to prove that its employees were not mentioned in the US anti-Russian individual sanctions lists.

"RT's YouTube partners have assured us that the request sent by the global team is only for internal use and does not have political overtones. We value our long-term partnership and are currently working to resolve the situation," Karnovich-Valua said in a statement obtained by RIA Novosti.

RT has seen a number of obstructions in the United States in the run up to US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday.

The RT Facebook page was blocked from leaving posts containing videos, images and links because of copyright infringement claim that came from one of the projects of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). The ban, initially set to last until January 21, could prevent RT from broadcasting US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Facebook, but RT later said it had regained full access to its page.

Dataminr, the Twitter-based news-breaking service, also unexpectedly terminated its contract with RT. The channel said the move looked like a result of pressure by US intelligence.

The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) commented on the matter by stating that Russia will have to respond symmetrically if any restrictions are imposed on the RT channel in the United States.

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