Serbian public broadcaster Telekom Srbija has restored RT and RTD, the Russian news and documentaries channels, to its cable package, RT announced on Friday. However, privately-owned SBB has kept the Russian channels blocked there, “despite having the technical capability” to resume their broadcast, Sasha Savicevic, an RT officer for distribution in Europe and Africa said.
Russian channels went down in Serbia when the EU blocked its signal as part of a package of sanctions against Moscow in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. Serbian officials called the restrictions “hypocritical” and pledged that their country would not join them.
Nevertheless, for several days the programming was not available to Telekom Srbija subscribers because French satellite operator Eutelsat stopped relaying it. The Serbian broadcaster platformed the Russian channels again after finding technical ways to circumvent the restriction.