Georgian National Communication Commission has fined LTD R Radio and LTD International News Agency NewsGeorgia with 5,000 GEL both for illegal broadcasting. R Radio has also been given a written sanction for violating of license-related obligations.
The commission has stated that Newsgeorgia, based on its own editorial responsibility, created a radio production that was broadcasted by R Radio with the title-Radio Sputnik Georgia.
"The action was taken as undertaking joint broadcasting without appropriate license and authorisation,” Georgian National Communication Commission's statement reads.
The R radio had triggered speculations in public with regard to its Russian links.
Privately owned R Radio, which currently broadcast in Tbilisi under the name Radio Monte Carlo, allocated four hours a day to broadcast Russia Today's new large-scale media brand- Sputnik’s programs in November 2014.
The legality of broadcasting Sputnik was put at question mark by local media reports and NGOs, especially when the Sputnik launched its website and begun radio broadcasting in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region, which is currently occupied by Russia.
Georgian non-governmental organisation Institute for Development for the Freedom of Information (IDFI) called on R Radio in November to publically release details of its agreement with Russian state news agency 'Russia Today’.
Since the Georgian National Communication Commission launched studying the issue, the R Radio stopped broadcasting of Radio Sputnik Georgia after a week in action.