The Russian Foreign Ministry announced today that it is banning access in Russia to dozens of media outlets from the European Union, which, according to Moscow, is a retaliatory measure for a similar ban by the EU on several Russian media outlets, Reuters reported, as quoted by BTA.
In May, the European Union said it was suspending four "Kremlin-linked propaganda networks", stripping them of their broadcasting rights in the bloc.
At the time, Brussels said the ban applied to the "Voice of Europe", the RIA news agency and the "Izvestia" newspapers. and "Rossiyskaya gazeta".
Among the banned media are two Bulgarian – the "Mediapool" portal and the newspaper "24 chasa", it is clear from the statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, published on the department's website.
The Russian Foreign Ministry hit back today by publishing a list of 81 media outlets from 25 EU member states, as well as pan-European media outlets, that will no longer be available on Russian territory.
The ministry accused the media of "systematically spreading inaccurate information" for what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
Among the mass media affected by the Russian move are the French Agence France-Presse, the Austrian state broadcaster ORF, the Irish broadcaster RTE and the Spanish agency EFE, as well as many other national radio stations. - and broadcasters, newspapers and "Politico" (Politico).
"The Russian Federation has repeatedly warned at various levels that the politically motivated harassment of local journalists and the unjustified bans on the activities of Russian media in the EU will not go unanswered,'' the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"However, Brussels and the capitals of the bloc countries preferred to go down the path of escalation, which forced Moscow to adopt mirror and proportional countermeasures."
Moscow's diplomatic mission has indicated it will review the Russian-imposed ban if the EU lifts its restrictions on RIA, "Izvestia" and the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta"
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Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of the State Duma, said in May that the EU's step showed that the West refuses to accept any alternative point of view and destroys freedom of speech, Reuters recalls.