Russia threatens U.S. media with sanctions
The Russian Foreign Ministry plans to take countermeasures against the American media in Russia in the event of continued pressure on the Russian television channel RT in the United States, the official spokeswoman for the ministry, Maria Zakharova, said.
According to her, the same measures will be applied to American media and American journalists that are being applied to RT (Russia Today) in the U.S., and Russia will deal with both state and private publications in the same way.
Zakharova did not say exactly what kind of pressure is being put on RT.
Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president, said that the Kremlin is not excluding reciprocal measures in the case of continued “harassment” of Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik in the U.S.
“A number of our media outlets are under unprecedented pressure, and this pressure is already significantly hampering the activities of our media in a number of Western countries, primarily in the U.S. Undoubtedly, in the case of further harassment and further violation of our media’s right to unimpeded activity, we cannot exclude the carrying out of reciprocal actions,” said the Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
The U.S. Justice Department suggested to the Russian television company RT, previously known as Russia Today, that it register the American branch of the broadcasting firm as a “foreign agent.”
On her website, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, accused the U.S. of “war” against the Russian media and infringement of freedom of speech.