Lithuania Suspends Russian TV Channel Over Program

A group of Lithuanians attempt to stop a Soviet Red Army tank from crushing a fellow protester during the assault on the Lithuanian Radio and Television station in Vilnius in January 1991.

Lithuania's Commission for Radio and Television has demanded an apology from Russia's First Baltic Channel (PBK) for broadcasting what it says was inaccurate information about the events in Vilnius in January 1991.

In a statement on October 8, the commission said that the interpretation of the events broadcast by PBK on October 4 could offend Lithuanian citizens.

The Lithuanian operator of PBK suspended the broadcast of its programs on October 7 in protest of a report that denied crimes committed by Soviet security forces during clashes between Lithuanian citizens and Soviet troops in Vilnius on January 13, 1991.

Fourteen people were killed in the fighting.

Thousands of Lithuanians came to central Vilnius at that time to defend the government, which had declared independence from the Soviet Union in March 1990.

Based on reporting by Delfi.lt and Interfax