Russia vows retaliation after RT France bank accounts frozen
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Moscow will retaliate against French media in Russia after the bank accounts of RT France, Russia's state broadcaster's French arm, were frozen.
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RT France's office (Sputnik)
Moscow has vowed to retaliate against French media in Russia after RT France's bank accounts in the EU country were frozen.
The bank accounts of RT France were frozen at the request of French authorities, RT France CEO Xenia Fedorova announced on January 20.
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.
Despite the fact that RT France is not on the sanctions list and has the right to operate in France, such a decision effectively paralyzes the media's work, she added.
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.
Following the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the European Union banned the broadcast of any content from the RT and Sputnik channels in March 2022.
Relations between Russian and Western media have deteriorated in recent years. The European Parliament passed a resolution in November 2016 stating the importance of countering Russian media, naming Sputnik and RT as the primary 'threats'.
The European Union banned Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik, with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accusing the pair of "spreading harmful disinformation."
