The Dozhd TV (TV Rain) channel is suspending its work, Natalya Sindeyeva, general director of the channel, said on the air of the channel. This will apply to the air, and broadcasts on YouTube, and social networks.

“We need strength to exhale and understand how to work further. Because if this law is adopted tomorrow, work will be practically impossible. Or we have to talk about wonderful exhibitions, fireworks, I don’t know about what…,” said Natalia Sindeyeva. This is her comment about a bill on criminal prosecution, providing for imprisonment of up to 15 years for fakes about the actions of the Russian armed forces, which was approved on Thursday by the relevant committee of the State Duma.

The Dozhd TV channel was launched in 2010 and never stopped working, despite constant pressure from the Russian authorities. The channel survived a blackout from most cable and satellite operators in 2014 and a lable of a "foreign agent" in 2021.

After saying goodbye to the audience, the channel began to broadcast a fragment of Swan Lake - a ballet that was continuously broadcast by Soviet television channels during the 1991 putsch.

Two days ago, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation submitted demands to the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications to take measures to restrict access to the Internet sites of the Echo of Moscow radio station and the Dozhd TV channel. The department explained that the media presented false information about the actions of the Russian military as part of a special operation in Ukraine. In particular, it was about the dissemination of information containing calls for extremism, violence against Russians, massive violations of public order and public security, as well as for the participation of citizens in mass public events leading to the "violent overthrow of the constitutional order."

After that, the radio station was taken off the air, and the site was blocked. Venediktov said that the editorial office would challenge the decision in court.

Later, the Board of Directors of Echo of Moscow decided to liquidate the radio station and the website, the editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov announced in his Telegram channel.