Lithuanian President Suggests Reducing Russian-Language Broadcasting to 10%

VILNIUS, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite suggested amendments to the country’s law on the provision of information to the public that cut the proportion of Russian-language broadcasting from 30 percent to 10 percent, Grybauskaite’s press service said Friday.

According to the press release, the Lithuanian leader argued that the measure is necessary to “Protect the nation and the society from distributed misinformation,” due to the “increased number of information attacks and hostile propaganda.”

Currently, Russian-language television can constitute up to 30 percent of broadcasting in Lithuania.

The amendments requiring 90 percent of all television and radio programs in Lithuania to be broadcasted in the official languages of the European Union, has already been filed with the Baltic state’s parliament.

“The project suggests that the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania could not only raise the issue of suspending a license, but also impose fines for propaganda, incitement of war and acts that infringe upon the sovereignty and independence of the Lithuanian Republic,” the press release said.

“Today, nobody has any doubt that information security is part of national security. Hostile propaganda, incitement of war and intolerance, misleading information … represents a threat to our country’s security and democracy. We must take measures and integrate the European Union’s information space more actively,” the statement reads.

In the past, the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania has suspended broadcasting at several Russian television channels in the Baltic republic on several occasions. The commission said the decisions were triggered by particular programs giving different interpretations of certain events in Lithuanian history and the current situation in Ukraine than the official Vilnius’ line.