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Moscow vows to hit back at any aggressive US move against Russian media

Russia is committed to all international provisions and respective norms as to the freedom of speech, Maria Zakharova stressed

MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. Russia will retaliate to each aggressive move by the US government against Russian media, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"When ‘all-in wrestling’ begins, when the law is distorted and turned into an instrument for destroying TV companies, each move against a Russian media outlet will get a respective response," she said. "Whom this response might hit, that is what Washington must calculate well," Zakharova added.

"I would like to say that Russia is committed to all international provisions and respective norms as to the freedom of speech, and it has repeatedly proved this," the spokeswoman went on.

She said the demand of the US authorities to register the company that provides services to RT America in the US as a foreign agent exactly contradicts the American principles of the freedom of speech".

"A selective and clearly politically motivated enforcement of legislation as applied to Russian media will mean restrictions on the freedom of speech, which is guaranteed by the US Constitution," the diplomat stressed.

"This is also fraught with serious legal consequences and entails risks regarding the safety of the staff. Obligations to disclose internal data of the TV channel, including the job pattern and personal data of employees, may present a real threat in the atmosphere of ‘witch hunt’ that has established in the US," she added.

"Repeated attacks on the channel by western leaders and agencies loyal to them have frequented in the recent years," she added.

"For example, the Atlantic Council that is connected with NATO published a report in which it recommended Poland to put Russia Today on the list of potential targets for a cyberattack. The same organization is a vocal supporter of putting RT on the list of foreign agents," the diplomat said.

She reiterated that "a great number of Russian-language information resources, as well as American ones, having the audience in Russia, get financial backing from the US".

"Nevertheless, so far they are not listed among foreign agents, they conceal sources of financing and are not registered as foreign agents," she summed up.