Russia imposed restrictions on 81 European media in response to the European Council’s decision to ”ban the broadcasts” of Ria Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta from today. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced this on its website. In the list of targeted European media the websites of Rai, La Stampa and Repubblica also appearas the Ria Novosti news agency explains.
The list also includes the German newspapers Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the French newspapers Le Monde, La Croix, the AFP news agency and the radio broadcaster Radio France. Russia then imposed restrictions on Spanish newspapers El Mundo and El Pais, as well as the Efe news agency, as well as Austrian state broadcaster Orf. Limitations were also placed on Politico and Euobserver publications, among others.
”In response to the decision taken by the Council of the EU on 17 May to ban ‘any broadcasting activity’ on three Russian media outlets (Ria Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta) which comes into force today, 25 June, restrictions on access introduced from the territory of the Russian Federation to the radio and television resources of numerous media outlets of EU member states and operators throughout Europe, which systematically spread false information on the conduct of the “special military operation” underway in Ukraine, we read in the ministry’s statement Russian Foreign Office.
The Russians, the note continues, have repeatedly and at various levels warned that ”politically motivated harassment of journalists and unfounded bans against Russian media in the EU will not go unnoticed”. The statement notes that ”despite this, Brussels and the capitals of the Union countries have chosen to take the path of escalation, forcing Moscow to adopt mirror-image and proportional countermeasures with another illegitimate ban. The responsibility for this development lies exclusively with the leadership of the European Union and the countries that supported this decision,” the ministry underlined.
