Kremlin: watchdog’s claims against Google do not mean crisis

The Russian media watchdog’s claims against the Google company should not be taken as a crisis, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

According to him, "monitoring media outlets and information platforms to see if they met the current legislation's requirements is just everyday work."

"I don’t think that such developments can be ignored but this should not be taken as a crisis," Peskov said. "This is just the everyday work of monitoring agencies that keep an eye on whether media outlets meet the legislation's requirements," the Russian presidential spokesman added.

News started floating on the Internet earlier that unauthorized protests against the pension reform were going to take place on the election day. In this regard, Russia’s Central Election Commission sent a letter to Google, reminding that spreading calls for election-day protests on the day prior to elections was an offence. The Russian media watchdog also demanded that Google prevent the use of its services, including the YouTube video-sharing website, for calls for violating Russian election laws. The watchdog’s deputy chief Vadim Subbotin said that "if they fail to show an appropriate response, it will amount to direct interference in Russia’s domestic affairs."

"Numerous advertising mechanisms provided by the YouTube video-sharing website, which belongs to American company Google, have been playing a role in the propaganda of anti-social conduct during elections," Subbotin added.

The official also said that the media watchdog did not plan to ban YouTube in Russia, using other mechanisms to enforce the law.

The 2018 Unified Election Day is planned for September 9, when gubernatorial elections will be held in 22 regions, while the governors of four regions will be elected by regional lawmakers. Regional parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in 16 regions and additional State Duma elections will be held in six single-mandate constituencies. Numerous municipal elections will also take place.