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A French satellite giant backed by the British taxpayer is under fire over claims it is carrying TV broadcasts of Kremlin “war propaganda”, more than 1,000 days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
French campaigners and Ukrainian activists have demanded Eutelsat, a Paris-listed satellite business in which the UK holds a 10pc stake, immediately halt transmissions of dozens of Russian channels.
In a question at the company’s shareholder meeting last week, an investor asked why Eutelsat had “not enforced the EU sanctions” against Russian broadcast groups. Eutelsat has said it is in “strict compliance” with all rules.
Eutelsat blocked several Russian and Iranian channels, including Moscow’s state broadcaster Russia Today, from its satellite services in December 2022 in response to EU demands and an order from French regulators.
However, other channels blacklisted by Brussels remain live and are carried via Eutelsat’s satellites as part of Russian pay-TV packages. French campaigners have claimed the channels include “war propaganda”.
In a response to the investor question, Eutelsat said it remained in talks with the French government officials and Arcom, the country’s telecoms regulator, over further potential bans. However, the technology company claimed it had “not, to date, received any explicit recommendations or instructions from the French authorities”.
It said it was “fully committed to implementing all the European sanctions in force” and added any relationship between its satellite services and the sanctioned channels was “indirect”.
The shareholder, however, argued that in a statement in May EU officials had “clearly stated that the freezing of economic assets meant that satellite capacity could not be made available to channels operated by the companies under sanction”.
The British Government became a major shareholder in Eutelsat after it merged with UK satellite business OneWeb in 2023. Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, is represented on the company’s board by a director.
The combined business has been billed as a rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink, although its shares have plunged since the deal. OneWeb operates a network of hundreds of low-orbit broadband satellites, while Eutelsat has dozens of larger communications and TV satellites.
Nezir Sinani, executive director of B4Ukraine, a coalition of advocacy groups demanding businesses cut ties with Russia, told The Telegraph: “As a stakeholder in Eutelstat, the UK Government must demand the company cuts ties with Russia.”
The Telegraph first exposed how the British taxpayer’s OneWeb holding could leave it sharing in the profits of Russian TV broadcasts more than two years ago.