[6] He has publicly praised the 19th century Russian administrator of what now are Belarus and Lithuania, Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky, known for his harsh policy of Russification and repressions against participants of the anti-Russian January Uprising.

[7] In 2011, after the wave of repressions that followed the 2010 presidential election, Vadim Gigin and several other top managers and employees of major state media became subject to an EU travel ban and asset freeze as part of a sanctions list of 208 individuals responsible for political repressions, electoral fraud and propaganda in Belarus.

In the EU Council's decision,[9] Gigin was described as "one of the most vocal and influential members of the state propaganda machine in the printed press.

He has supported and justified the repression of the democratic opposition and of civil society, which are systematically highlighted in a negative and derogatory way using falsified information, in particular after the Presidential elections in 2010."

[11] In the same month, Switzerland,[12] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway[13] joined these sanctions.