MOSCOW, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday

that Alphabet's Google should lift its block on

Russian TV channels broadcasting on YouTube and said it hoped

huge legal claims racking up against the U.S.-based company

would jolt it into action.

Google stopped serving ads to users in Russia in March 2022

and paused monetisation of content which it deemed to exploit,

dismiss or condone Russia's war in Ukraine.

It has since blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels,

including state-sponsored news, and over 5.5 million videos.

Russian business newspaper RBC reported this week that legal

claims brought by 17 Russian TV channels against Google in

Russian courts, which have imposed compound fines on Google's

turnover in Russia, had reached 2 undecillion roubles, a number

with 36 zeroes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the

huge sum, which he said he couldn't pronounce, was symbolic.

"These demands - they simply demonstrate the essence of our

channels' claims against Google," Peskov told reporters. "Google

should not restrict the activities of our broadcasters, and

Google is doing this.

"Probably, this (the huge legal claims mounting up) should

be a reason for Google's management to take notice and rectify

the situation. It's the best thing the company can do."

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.