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Russia's embassy blasts US for pressuring Russian media

The United States continues unacceptable practice of pressure on Russian media instead of mutually beneficial cooperation, the Russian embassy in Washington said

© Anatoly Bochinin/TASS

WASHINGTON, January 11. /TASS/. The United States continues "unacceptable practices of pressure on Russian media instead of mutually beneficial cooperation," the Russian embassy in Washington said on Wednesday.

"Today, on January 10, we learned that RIA Global, a company that generates content for Sputnik [news agency] will be able to continue its operation only after it is registered as a foreign agent," the embassy said. "Such steps disrupt normal work of journalists as they act as grounds for various sorts of restrictions, we have witnessed when RT [television channel] was stripped of accreditation at the Congress."

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"We think these actions are inadmissible," the embassy said. "We consider them as yet another blow on the Russian-US relations. We are convinced that such steps are not in the US’s national interests and harm its prestige and authority."

"Russia has always been against any restrictions on the freedom of the mass media, including in the work of foreign media and journalists," the embassy stressed. "However we cannot say that about the United States and a number of its allies that continue unacceptable practices of pressure on Russian mass media instead of mutually beneficial cooperation. It has come to visa cancelation, expulsion of Russian journalists, frequent attempts of foreign security services to coopt them."

"Where is reaction of authoritative international organizations advocating journalists’ rights? Will we ever hear resolute protests from the OSCE? How long will the fact that the Myrotvorets extremist website, which has personal data of thousands of journalists who have visited the conflict zone in Donbass to do their job, has moved to the United States be hushed up? It looks like comfortable conditions have been created here," the embassy said.

"We don’t rule out that in line with the generally accepted practice of double standards these organizations will soon come out with rigorous criticism of Russia for our inevitable tit-for-tat measures in response to reckless actions of the US authorities," the embassy underscored.

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