Dutch children's channel outages caused by Russian sabotage of six satellites
An extensive Russian offensive on European satellites was behind several disruptions to the children’s channel BabyTV, in which Russian propaganda played on the channel multiple times in the spring, Nieuwsuur discovered. The disruption to the Dutch children’s programming was a side effect of a larger sabotage action against European satellites. Russia has attacked at least six European satellites in recent months, the current affairs program reported.
The Russian sabotage affected the Netherlands for the first time on March 16. KPN broadcast an hour of interference instead of children’s television. No one noticed at the time. At the same time, the Ukrainian television channel FreedomTV was interrupted, showing a Russian propaganda video instead of the normal programming.
According to Nieuwsuur, the Ukrainian channel runs via the same television satellite as BabyTV, a satellite owned by the French company Eutelsat. Russia hijacked that satellite twice more. On March 28 and April 17, Dutch customers of VodafoneZiggo and Odido suddenly saw Russian war propaganda on the BabyTV channel. Viewers in Ukraine saw the same propaganda at the same time. KPN never broadcast the propaganda - the provider automatically showed an interference screen instead.
Russia was likely targeting Ukrainian television, Dutch, French, Swedish, and Ukrainian government services told Nieuwsuur. The interruptions of BabyTV were likely collateral damage.
In recent months, Russia disrupted at least four more Eutelsat satellites and one satellite managed by the Luxembourg company SES, according to investigations by the satellite companies in Nieuwsuur’s possession. Some of these satellites not only carry TV signals but also government communications and possibly even military communications, according to brochures from the companies.
“That is a lot, and it is worrying that it is happening,” Patrick Bolder, an expert in the field of military activities and space and affiliated with The Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS), told the program. “It shows that we are not resilient. We are not sufficiently aware of our vulnerabilities.”
Bolder sees this as an escalation of the hybrid war between Russia and the West. “We are actually already at war with Russia, but a lot of people don’t understand that. As long as they are not stopped, Russia will continue to take steps forward.”
The Netherlands, Ukraine, and three other countries filed a complaint against Russia with the Radio Regulations Board of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - the UN body responsible for regulating satellite communications. Russia denied involvement in the attacks, saying that its own research shows that no disruptions happened from Russian territory on the dates mentioned. Russia did not provide evidence for this claim, according to Nieuwsuur.
