RT France coerced into shutting down its activities, setting precedent
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The French government has forced RT France to close its offices in the country after it froze the news outlet's bank accounts making its sustainability impossible.
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RT France sign at the Paris studios (TASS)
Following France's decision to freeze RT France's bank accounts, the broadcaster announced on Saturday the closure of its offices in the country.
It is worth noting that RT France does not appear on the sanctions list and has the right to work in France, however, the French government's decision made the new outlet's activities impossible to sustain according to the editor-in-chief Ksenia Fedorova.
The broadcaster released a statement that noted "After five years of perseverance, those in power have achieved their goal — the closure of RT France. Under the pretext of the ninth package of Russia sanctions, which mention not us, but our shareholder in the parent company, the Directorate General of the Treasury has decided to freeze the bank accounts of RT France, making it impossible to continue our activities."
Furthermore, the news outlet argued that it "had been targeted since its launch," and that European Union called for the censoring of the TV channel from the beginning.
The war in Ukraine, which RT France said to have covered "in a balanced way," was used as an excuse to finally "shut RT France up," given that the channel "has never been held accountable for anything," according to the statement.
As such, RT France considered this decision a political one "not based on any legal verdict."
In other words, the statement exclaimed, that such a decision is nothing but clear "censorship," and warned that "the deafening silence from other French media and journalists is only the first," regarding the incident sets an "extremely dangerous" precedent that will be used to target a number of other Russian media outlets.
As a result of this coercive decision on Paris' behalf, up to 123 RT France employees risk unemployment which will likely "cast doubt on the future of media freedom in France," the statement concluded.
Russia vows retaliation after RT France bank accounts frozen
In turn, Moscow has vowed to retaliate against French media in Russia after RT France's bank accounts in the EU country were frozen.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that unless the authorities stop "terrorizing" Russian journalists, France would "remember" these measures.
Fedorova explained that when they approached the bank for clarification, they were directed to the order of the authorities.
At the request of Reporters Without Borders, the French Council of State ordered the media regulator Arcom to reconsider its decision to continue broadcasting Russian TV channels Rossiya 1, NTV, and Channel One in Russia and Ukraine by the French satellite operator Eutelsat in early December 2022.
Read more: Russia accuses Western media of Ukraine coverage manipulation
