Russia has banned 81 media from 25 countries belonging to the European Union (EU). Apart from this, the country has also been accused of jamming the satellite.
This information is given in the report of SMW.
According to the report, among the closed media outlets are Politico, the French news agency AFP, Germany's Spiegel, Spain's El Paris, Austria, and Italy's National Press Agency.
Moscow complains that these media have been spreading anti-Russian news and giving wrong information for a long time. These media are also accused of spreading false information about the war in Ukraine.
In fact, Russia is not in favor of calling the Russia-Ukraine conflict a 'war'. The conflict began on February 24, 2022 and since then Moscow has called it a "special military operation". Legal action is being taken against anyone who calls it war. But most of the western mass media call it war.
Earlier, Moscow had banned several independent Russian media outlets. There are also rumors that the mass media is being threatened to be shut down if it speaks out against President Putin.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Moscow made this decision in response to an incident last May. That month, the EU imposed sanctions on four Russian media outlets. Allegedly, those mass media are spreading propaganda for the Kremlin. Prague's Voice of Europe is also on that list. This press is directly opposed to the Western world. At the time, Moscow strongly criticized the European Union's move.
EU Vice President Vera Zourova termed Moscow's move as "nonsense" and said in a message posted on social media X that the Kremlin (the Russian president's office) has consistently interfered with press freedom. The steps taken by the Kremlin recently are complete nonsense. A free and independent media does not spread propaganda; Instead, Russia funds the media that spread the propaganda. It is part of their militarism.
Moscow said it could reverse the move. But in that case, the ban on the mass media that the EU has imposed, should be lifted. The statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry said in this regard, "We have repeatedly warned. Journalists of news organizations speaking for Russia in the EU cannot be harassed or obstructed. But the EU didn't listen then."
After Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in 2022, many Western media outlets moved their staff out of Russia because the Russian parliament passed several laws against the press and journalists. DW was also banned by Russia at that time.
The lawsuit against Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovic began a day before Tuesday's ban. He was arrested earlier. In fact, Russia ranks 162 on the Press Freedom Index, a global index of free journalism.