The claim that Raimonds Pauls’ songs are banned in Latvia distorts the true facts. The amendments being considered in the Latvian parliament are not directed against the composer or his work, but against the broadcasting of works created by sanctioned individuals. Moreover, the law has not yet been finally adopted.
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The ban would only affect media outlets
As reported by the news agency “Leta”, on July 23, 2026, the Latvian Saeima approved in the second reading amendments to the Electronic Media Law, proposing to prohibit the broadcasting of music on radio and other media whose authors or performers are included in international or national sanctions lists.
The amendment was submitted by National Alliance deputy Artūrs Butāns. Its consideration in the Saeima sparked discussions on how the new ban would be applied in practice when a work is created by several people and sanctions apply only to one of them.
As one example, Raimonds Pauls’ songs were discussed, whose music was composed by the Latvian composer, but the lyricists are sanctioned Russian poets.
Deputy Česlavs Batņa confirmed that if the amendments are adopted, such songs would not be allowed to be broadcast on the radio. However, residents would not be prohibited from listening to them privately, for example, on the “YouTube” platform.
At the same time, the Latvian parliament also approved other amendments to the Electronic Media Law in the second reading. It is planned that radio broadcasting licenses would be issued only for programs in the state language. It is also proposed to set requirements for the translation of films and television content into Latvian.
The amendments have not yet been finally adopted. For the new regulations to come into effect, the Latvian Saeima must still approve the law changes in the third and final reading, and the adopted law must be signed by the president.
Therefore, the claim that R. Pauls’ songs are already banned in Latvia is not only misleading but also premature: so far, it is only about a draft law under consideration.
Most importantly, R. Pauls himself is not subject to sanctions, so his work is not banned per se.
Parliamentary debates indicated that the restriction would affect eight songs whose lyricists or performers are included in the European Union or Latvian national sanctions lists.
Thus, these works could not be broadcast not because of R. Pauls’ authorship, but because of sanctioned co-authors or performers. Hundreds of other songs by the composer could continue to be played on the radio, as well as versions of the same melodies performed by individuals not subject to sanctions.
Network of lies
The text circulated on Lithuanian social media accounts almost verbatim repeats publications posted on July 23–24, 2026, on the “Pravda Latvija” portal. This portal belongs to the “Pravda” network.
The headlines of the network’s publications, claiming that R. Pauls’ songs are banned in Latvia, create a narrative that diminishes the Baltic countries: giving the impression that allegedly “Russophobic” Latvia has started banning even the work of one of its most famous composers.
The “Pravda” network is a pro-Russian disinformation operation encompassing hundreds of fake news sites that imitate reliable local media outlets. This network systematically spreads propaganda content, especially related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in various languages and different countries.
The “Pravda” network, launched in April 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has significantly expanded and now covers 49 countries and dozens of languages, according to “NewsGuard”.
Millions of pro-Russian content articles prepared by “Pravda”, including false claims such as the existence of secret American biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, are distributed on platforms like “X”, “Telegram”, and “Bluesky”.
The “Pravda” network does not create original content itself but aggregates content from sources such as Russian state media and Kremlin-friendly opinion makers or “borrows” content from media, later rewriting it with AI tools according to Kremlin-friendly narratives.
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The fact that the “Pravda” network is extensively infiltrated and poses a significant threat was shown by a study published early last year by the anti-disinformation organization “NewsGuard”.
Researchers reported that the expanded Russian disinformation network manipulates AI chatbots created by Western countries to spread Kremlin propaganda.
A study by the disinformation monitoring organization “NewsGuard” of the top 10 AI chatbots showed that they repeated false data from the “Pravda” network in more than 33% of cases.
In the “NewsGuard” study, all 10 chatbots, including OpenAI’s “ChatGPT-4”, “You.com” smart assistant, “Grok”, “Microsoft Copilot”, “Meta AI”, “Google Gemini”, and “Perplexity”, repeated disinformation spread by the “Pravda” network.
Seven chatbots even directly cited specific “Pravda” articles as their sources.
“Huge amounts of Russian propaganda – 3.6 million articles in 2024 – are now included in Western AI systems’ outputs, infecting their responses with false claims and propaganda,” wrote “NewsGuard” researchers McKenzie Sadeghi and Isis Blachez in the report.
In a separate study, the nonprofit organization “American Sunlight Project” warned about the growing reach of the “Pravda” network – sometimes also called “Portal Kombat” – and the likelihood that its pro-Russian content will increasingly flood AI training data, attempting to “re-educate” artificial intelligence and implant its “truths”.
Millions of publications
The disinformation analysis company “CheckFirst” together with “DFRLab” researchers analyzed the number and frequency of “Pravda” publications.
The study revealed that this network has already published more than 3.7 million articles reusing Russian media content.
The collected data reveals a clear informational framework of the “Pravda” network: the most frequently cited sources are Russian state or closely affiliated media outlets. Among them are TASS, RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru, “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, and the state-funded broadcaster RT. Also mentioned are the TV channels “REN TV” and “Cargrad”.
Some of these channels are already restricted or sanctioned in the United States, Canada, and the European Union, but this has not prevented their content from continuing to spread through alternative information networks.
The scale of the “Pravda” network is impressive: more than 3.7 million articles published worldwide. The greatest attention is paid to European audiences – especially France (394.4 thousand publications) and Germany (376.7 thousand). Next are Ukraine (270.3 thousand), Moldova (244.7 thousand), and Serbia (228.9 thousand).
15min verdict: partly false. The claim that Raimonds Pauls’ songs are banned in Latvia is misleading. The Latvian Saeima has so far only approved in the second reading amendments that would restrict the broadcasting of works by sanctioned authors and performers in the media. A final vote is still required for them to take effect.
R. Pauls himself is not sanctioned, and his work is not banned in Latvia. The proposed restrictions would only affect specific recordings whose co-authors or performers are included in the European Union or Latvian sanctions lists. Other songs by the composer and versions of the same works recorded by performers not subject to sanctions could continue to be broadcast.
Publication prepared by 15min in cooperation with “Meta”, aiming to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here
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