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Moscow to respond immediately to measures against Russia’s RT in Australia — diplomat

The Russian Foreign Ministry is verifying Australian media reports about "a preliminary investigation against Russia’s RT television channel as a presumable foreign agent"

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Moscow reserves the right to tit-for-tat measures if reports about the illegal actions of the Australian authorities against Russia’s RT television channel prove to be true, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

According to Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry is verifying Australian media reports about "a preliminary investigation against Russia’s RT television channel as a presumable foreign agent that was initiated by Australia’s police." The TV channel, in her words, may fall under the local law on measures against foreign interference.

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"If these reports prove to be true, we see yet another example of the so-called solidarity, when Australia has opted to follow the lead of the United States and the United Kingdom and embark on a path of squeezing Russian media out of the global media space," she said.

"Moscow reserves the right to response measures in case the rights of Russian journalists and infringed upon, wherever it may take place. Our position on this matter is unchanged," she noted, adding that the Russian Foreign Ministry knows "where decisions to launch such campaigns are taken and how they are implemented on the ground."

"Tit-for-tat measures will come immediately," she stressed.

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