The news came from council secretary Oleksiy Danylov who said in a briefing Friday the council pulled the plug on Nash TV channel by introducing sanctions against its parent company Nash 365 and two affiliated businesses Nash 24 and Nasha Prague, both of which are reportedly registered in Cyprus.

Confronted by Nash reporter in his briefing over the decisions behind the sanctions, Oleksiy Danylov wryly admitted he never knew such TV station existed.

‘I have to confess I watched Your channel only yesterday for the first time. I never knew you existed’.

According to the council order, the sanctions will hurt Nash for five years, although it is still unclear what kind of restrictions beyong removal from the air it will have for the blacklisted entities.

Many observers argue they saw it coming as Nash TV channel was earlier often called out over its overtly pro-Russian stance that eventually got it penalties from the state media regulator for fuelling ‘national, racial, and religious hatred’.

Last year, the state security council took off the air three TV channels owned by pro-Russian ‘Opposition Platform for Life’ MP Viktor Medvedchuk arguing there were posing a state security threat.