The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, condemned the blocking of regional state television and radio broadcasting companies on YouTube, a move reported by TASS. Zakharova characterized the removals as a hardline effort to erase points of view from the public information space, describing it as political censorship and a display of arbitrariness by digital platforms.
She argued that the pattern mirrors what she called an American standard among platforms that host video content and other media services, accusing Western outlets of policing narratives in a way that stifles dissenting voices.
According to VGTRK, access to at least 19 channels operated by regional branches was restricted on the night of February 7, with blocks appearing across multiple regions in Russia. Regions affected include Adygea, Altai, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Murmansk, Bryansk, Pskov, Rostov, Vologda, Saratov, Tomsk, Tyumen, the Trans-Baikal Territory, Karelia, Mari El, Perm, St. Petersburg, Udmurtia, and Yakutia, as reported by regional outlets and later confirmed by state media observers. The situation was documented in reports available through TASS and corroborated by regional broadcasters seeking to inform audiences about changes in channel availability.
Earlier, press secretary Dmitry Peskov had described Western reporting on the matter as evidence of what he framed as military censorship in the West, a statement that intensified the exchange around how information is regulated on international platforms and the degree of state influence in online spaces. The exchange underscores ongoing tensions over how regional media are presented to the public on global digital services and the broader debate over platform governance and national media sovereignty. The reporting and commentary cited here draw on official briefings and statements from Russian authorities and state media outlets, with coverage compiled by TASS and related regional channels.