Russia’s US embassy calls on media watchdogs to respond to crackdown on RT

The Russian embassy in the US has called for a strong response from media watchdogs after Washington demanded that the provider for RT America register as a foreign agent by Monday.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the embassy said:“Russia has time and again warned that any measures limiting activity of the Russian mass media in the United States will inevitably trigger an immediate symmetrical response. This possibility is allowed by the Russian legislation.

“Our signals have been ignored. RT’s affiliates in the United States were presented with an ultimatum demanding them to register as a foreign agent until November 13 or face arrests of the employees and bank accounts for incompliance. The RT team’s journalistic work in the US has thus already been disrupted.

“We would like to point out that none of the foreign media producing news in the United States have been required to register as foreign agents till now. The American authorities have thus created a dangerous precedent by demonstrating yet again double standards in action.

“Crude pressure on the Russian mass media confirms that the United States pursues the course of deliberately hurting our relations. We consider this demand as America’s wish to eliminate an alternative source of information, which is an unacceptable violation of the international norms of free press.

“We would like to hereby call on all organizations monitoring the mass media situation in the United States to respond accordingly. We are very curious to see how the OSCE will respond. We are looking forward to seeing the evaluation of the situation by the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety Christiane Amanpour.”