ST. PETERSBURG, June 3. /TASS/. Journalists working for media outlets considered foreign agents have the same rights as reporters from other companies, and claims that Russia is restricting their activity are untrue, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday during a business breakfast on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"Any effort to depict this law’s implementation as an attempt to somehow hinder foreign media from functioning are untrue. We continue working with everyone. <…> We will do everything in our power to disavow this information, because saying that foreign agent media outlets in our country do not have the same rights as other media would count as disinformation," she specified.

Zakharova pointed out that Russia’s legislation on media outlets that receive foreign funding was a tit-for-tat step in retaliation to the actions by the US and other Western states against Russian media. "This is exactly the case when this is a response measure. <…> We took retaliatory measures when shaping our Russian law, which is being implemented right now," the diplomat emphasized.

The spokeswoman also stressed that in the past year, Russia uncovered numerous "fake news, smear campaigns, and cases of disinformation on how Russia’s foreign agent law is implemented."

The law on foreign agent media outlets was approved in 2017, and in 2019, this legislation was expanded to include individuals. Publications of foreign media considered foreign agents in Russia must be specially marked. The goal of this requirement is to inform the Russian reader that such publications pursue the interests of other states.