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Russian media watchdog capable of exerting pressure on US media working in Russia

However, Roskomnadzor is not currently working to outline any measures against the US media outlets and social networks

MOSCOW, November 1. /TASS/. Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor has all the necessary mechanisms to exert tit-for-tat pressure on the US media outlets in response to Washington’s actions, Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov said on Wednesday.

At a meeting of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) working group on monitoring external activities aimed at meddling in Russia’s domestic affairs, he said that "formally, the US media outlets abide by the law. But if we thoroughly assess Washington’s influence on the media working in Russia, then Roskomnadzor definitely has enough mechanisms to give an adequate and tit-for-tat response." "If the unprecedented pressure that the RT channel and Sputnik agency have been facing goes on, then we have all the capabilities to respond," Zharov added.

However, as Zharov told reporters earlier, Roskomnadzor is not currently working to outline any measures against the US media outlets and social networks.

In late October, Roskomnadzor submitted to the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) its proposals concerning possible changes in the Russian legislation, which would prove to be a proportionate response to the oppression that the Russian media have been facing abroad, as well as to attempts at using the media for influencing the political and economic situation in Russia. Roskomnadzor deputy head Vadim Subbotin announced this plan at a meeting of the working group on drafting proposals for legislation improvements under the Federation Council’s temporary commission for the protection of state sovereignty.

RT Chief Editor Margarita Simonyan earlier said that the US authorities demanded that RT brand itself a "foreign agent." Twitter later decided to ban all the advertisements from RT and Sputnik.