Russia announced this Tuesday that it will block access to 81 media outlets from European Union countriesas part of retaliation measures for the restrictions imposed on Russian media.
“They are going to impose retaliatory measures for access from Russian territory to the media of EU Member States“, indicated the Russian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
On the list published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are Spanish media such as The world and The countrythe German magazine Der Spiegelthe Italian chain RAI, French newspapers like Le Monde and Liberationand pan-European media such as Political, among others. Some of the most important news agencies on the continent also appear, such as the French AFP and the Spanish EFE.
The announcement comes after the European Union decided in May to block the broadcasting of four Russian media controlled by the Kremlin –Voice of Europe, Ria Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiïskaïa Gazeta– accused of being an “instrument” of supporting Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
More than two years ago, the EU also vetoed the dissemination in its jurisdiction of several Russian or pro-Russian media, including Russia Todayas he accused Russia of using these platforms to “spread their propaganda and carry out disinformation campaigns”.
“The Russian side has repeatedly warned at various levels that politically motivated harassment of domestic journalists and unjustified bans on Russian media in the EU zone will not go unanswered,” the foreign ministry added.
“Despite this, in Brussels and the capitals of the bloc countries they chose to take the path of escalation, forcing Moscow to take proportional and parallel countermeasures with another illegitimate ban. The responsibility for such a development of events lies solely with the leadership of the Europeans. Union and the countries of this association that supported such a decision,” the ministry said.
Russia stated that it will “review” the restrictionsif sanctions against Russian media are lifted.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has blocked Internet access to most Western media and social networks such as Facebookin their attempt to block any independent information about the conflict.
Access is still possible via a virtual private network (VPN).
The national media that criticizes the government of Vladimir Putin or its offensive against Ukraine have been banned, harassed and banned, and many independent media have closed their doors.
Lawmakers have also introduced harsh prison sentences for those deemed to have spread “false information” on the armed forces, a measure that caused an exodus of foreign journalists from the country in the first weeks of the conflict.
The American Evan Gershkovichreporter of Wall Street Journal that He will be tried this week in Russiahas been in jail for more than a year, accused of espionage, according to his employer and the White House.
The Russian-American journalist Alsosu Kurmasheva She has also been detained in a Russian prison since last year, after being arrested on charges of violating the “foreign agents” law from Moscow while visiting the country for a family emergency.
Russia occupies the 162nd out of 180 in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders.
Austria
1. State radio and television company “ORF” (orf.at);
2. Media holding “Osterreich” (oe24.at);
Belgium
3. “Le Vif” Magazine (levif.be);
4. Knack Magazine (knack.be);
Bulgaria
5. “Mediapool” news information portal (Mediapool.bg);
6. “24 Horas” newspaper (24chasa.bg);
Hungary
7. Internet information portal 444.hu;
Germany
8. Magazine “Der Spiegel” (spiegel.de);
9. Newspaper “Die Zeit” (zeit.de);
10. Newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (faz.net);
Greece
11. JSC “Greek Radio and Television” EPT (ert.gr, ertnews.gr);
12. “Skai” media (skai.gr);
13. “Mega” television channel (Megatv.com);
14. “Proto Thema” newspaper (protothema.gr);
Denmark
15. “Berlingske” newspaper (berlingske.dk);
16. Publication “Information” (information.dk);
Ireland
17. RTE national broadcaster (rte.ie);
18. The Irish Times newspaper (irishtimes.com);
19. The Irish Independent newspaper (independent.ie);
Spain
20. “El Mundo” newspaper (elmundo.es);
21. “El País” newspaper (elpais.com);
22. “EFE” information agency (efe.com);
23. Spanish State Television “Televisión Española” (rtve.es);
Italy
24. National television channel “LA7″ (la7.it);
25. “La Stampa” newspaper (lastampa.it);
26. “La Repubblica” newspaper (repubblica.it);
27. “RAI” television company (rai.it, ranews.it);
Cyprus
28. “Politis” Newspaper (politis.com.cy);
29. “Cyprus Times” electronic information portal (cyprustimes.com);
30. Newspaper “Cyprus Mail” (cyprus-mail.com);
Latvia
31. Television channel “Latvian Television” and Latvian Radio 4 (lsm.lv);
32. Internet portal apollo.lv;
33. Internet television channel tvnet.lv;
34. Publication “Diena” (diena.lv);
Lithuania
35. “LRT” Internet Portal (lrt.lt);
36. Internet Portal “15min.lt” (15min.lt);
37. Internet portal “lrytas.lt” (lrytas.lt);
malt
38. Central state television channel “Television Malta” TVM (tvmnews.mt);
39. “Times of Malta” newspaper (timesofmalta.com);
40. The Malta Independent newspaper (independent.com.mt);
41. “Malta Today” Newspaper (maltatoday.com.mt);
Netherlands
42. Radio and television company “Nos” (nos.nl);
43. Newspaper “Nrc” (nrc.nl);
44. Newspaper “Algemeen Dagblad” (ad.nl);
Poland
45. “Belsat” TV channel (belsat.eu, belsat.pl);
46. “New Poland” magazine (novayapolsha.eu, novayapolsha.com, novayapolsha.pl);
Portugal
47. “RTP International” television channel (rtp.pt);
48. “Público” Newspaper (publico.pt);
49. “Expresso” newspaper (expresso.pt);
50. “Observador” information and analysis project (observador.pt);
Romania
51. Television channel “Pro TV International” (stirileprotv.ro, protv.ro);
52. Television channel “Digi24″ (digi24.ro);
53. Television channel “B1TV” (b1tv.ro);
Slovakia
54. “SME” newspaper (sme.sk);
55. Internet publication “Dennik N” (dennikn.sk);
Slovenia
56. Internet publication “Nova24″ (Nova24.si, Nova24tv.si);
57. Internet publication “Demokracija” (Demokracija.si, Demokracija.eu);
Finland
58. “Ilta-Sanomat” newspaper (is.fi);
59. “Iltalehti” Newspaper (iltalehti.fi);
60. Newspaper “Helsingin Sanomat” (hs.fi);
61. Radio and television company “Yleisradio” (yle.fi);
France
62. “LCI” television channel (tf1info.fr);
63. Le Monde newspaper (lemonde.fr);
64. La Croix Newspaper (la-croix.com);
65. “Liberation” newspaper (liberation.fr);
66. Lexpress Magazine (lexpress.fr);
67. Radio company “Radio France” (radiofrance.fr);
68. Information agency “Agence France-Presse” (afp.com, afpforum.com);
69. “CNews” television channel (cnews.fr);
70. “Arte” television company (arte.tv);
Czech Republic
71. Television channel “Ceska Televize” (ceskatelevize.cz);
72. Internet Portal “Seznam Zpravy” (seznamzpravy.cz);
Sweden
73. Radio and television company “SVT” (svt.se);
74. Sveriges Radio radio company (sverigesradio.se);
Estonia
75. Propastop.org information web portal;
76. National Broadcasting Corporation “ERR” (err.ee);
77. “Delfi” media resource (delfi.ee);
Pan-European media
78. Agency Europe (agenceurope.eu);
79. Politico (www.politico.eu, www.politico.com);
80. Satellite package “Svoboda satellite package” (rsf.org);
81. Internet publication “Euobserver” (Euobserver.com).
