MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced a ban on dozens of EU media outlets’ broadcasts within Russia on Tuesday. The action is in retaliation for the EU’s ban on several Russian media outlets. Russia bans EU media outlets to counter perceived political interference. This action affects the availability of EU news sources in Russia.
The European Union suspended four “Kremlin-linked propaganda networks” in May, revoking their broadcasting rights in the bloc.
It said at the time that the ban applied to Voice of Europe, to the RIA news agency and to the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.
On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry retaliated by listing 81 media outlets from 25 EU member states. It also included pan-European outlets whose broadcasts it banned in Russia.
It accused the outlets of “systematically distributing inaccurate information” about what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
France’s Agence France-Presse news agency, Austria’s ORF state TV company, Ireland’s RTE broadcaster, and Spain’s EFE news agency were among the outlets affected by the Russian move along with many other national broadcasters, newspapers, and Politico.
“The Russian Federation has repeatedly warned at various levels that politically motivated harassment of domestic journalists and unjustified bans on Russian media in the EU will not go unanswered,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“In spite of this, Brussels and the capitals of the bloc’s countries preferred to follow the path of escalation, forcing Moscow to adopt mirror and proportional countermeasures.”
Russia bans EU distribution as a response to perceived sanctions and political measures. This move restricts access to European news sources within Russia’s media landscape.
read more
image source
