Last Update: January 22, 2023, 07:22 AM IST
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony for the commissioning of new warships into the Russian Navy via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on December 29, 2022. (AFP)
The channel’s director in France, Xenia Fedorova, announced in a statement posted on Twitter later on Saturday that it was the final blow
Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed foreign ministry source, that Moscow would retaliate against French media in Russia.
Hours later, the channel’s director in France announced that it would have to shut down as a result.
The TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted a foreign ministry source as saying, “The blocking of RT France accounts will result in retaliation against French media in Russia.”
The source accused Paris of “terrorizing Russian journalists”, adding that “the measures will be remembered”.
The channel’s director in France, Xenia Fedorova, announced in a statement posted on Twitter later on Saturday that it was the final blow.
“After five years of oppression, the authorities in power have achieved their goal: the closure of RT France,” she wrote.
She described the French move as an “arbitrary measure” that amounted to censorship, adding that 123 employees were at risk of not being paid for January and could lose their jobs.
– Paris blames sanctions –
The account freeze was part of the latest EU sanctions against Russia.
On Friday, RT France’s unions – already banned from broadcasting – said their accounts in the country had been frozen.
The French finance ministry told AFP the chain’s assets were frozen in compliance with the most recent EU sanctions ukraine – Not on the initiative of Paris.
The same ministry source said that unlike the initial sanctions set after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine, new EU measures adopted in December provided for an “assets freeze” of targeted entities.
Among those entities is “ANO TV Novosti, a parent company that holds 100 percent of RT France”, said the source explaining the decision.
But a representative of the RT France trade union protested, saying the order came directly from the French treasury.
“We received a letter from our bank on 18 January saying that our bank accounts were frozen at the request of the general management of the Treasury,” the representative told AFP.
media war
EU authorities last March banned RT – including the French-language version – and fellow Russian broadcaster Sputnik from broadcasting in the EU bloc or online, accusing it of acting as a mouthpiece for Kremlin “disinformation”. Charged.
In July, the European Court of Justice rejected RT France’s appeal against a broadcast ban introduced by the European Union shortly after the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.
France was the only EU member state to host an RT branch, having done so since 2017, and maintains a registered RT subsidiary, which continues to produce and distribute programs available via VPN internet access.
Launched in 2005 as “Russia Today”, state-funded RT has expanded with channels and websites in languages including English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Even before the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Germany shut down the German-language RT service in December 2021 for not having a valid satellite license.
Most Western media outlets are already off-air in Russia and their websites have been banned.
Western countries have long accused RT of spreading disinformation and pro-Kremlin propaganda.
read all breaking news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)