Russia: Roskomnadzor sends letter to Google LLC demanding YouTube to restore video posted by “Russian Ministry of Defense”

On 26 March 2021, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of Russia, Roskomnadzor, sent a letter to Google LLC, the owner of the platform YouTube, demanding the company to restore access and remove all restrictions imposed on the video “Meeting of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine” posted on the platform by the official account of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Furthermore, the agency demanded that Google provide the reasons for the access restrictions. Roskomnadzor claimed that the restriction of the video represents an act of censorship because it violates the right to free distribution of information and unrestricted access to it.