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US Secretary of State again focuses on situation regarding Radio Liberty in Russia

The pandemic has provided a pretext "for repressive governments to intensify pressure on independent media", Antony Blinken said

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

© AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool

WASHINGTON, May 3. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken again paid attention to the situation regarding operations of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty radio station [recognized in Russia as mass medium - foreign agent - TASS] in Russia.

" In Russia, authorities continue to restrict independent reporting, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty," Blinken said in his statement.

"Unfortunately, the pandemic has provided a pretext for repressive governments to intensify pressure on independent media. It is exactly in that kind of hostile environment that the exercise of freedom of expression, especially by members of the press, becomes even more crucial in alerting the public to abuses and corruption and in countering dangerous misinformation and disinformation. We call on all governments to ensure media safety and protect journalists’ ability to do their jobs without fear of violence, threats, or unjust detention," he noted.

Radio Liberty case

As the Russian telecommunications watchdog told TASS earlier, Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe featured in 466 reports on administrative violations, including 390 cases of non-compliance with the legal requirement for marking its content as a product of a foreign agent and 76 repeated refusals to obey the rules. All foreign mass media performing the function of a foreign agent in Russia are obliged to mark the products they spread in Russia in a special way, thus informing the Russian audience that the content pursues the interests of other countries.

Moscow creates no obstructions to the operation of US mass media in its territory, but at the same time it expects that all of them, including US government-funded Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe will comply with Russian legislation, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier in a comment on recent statements by US Department of State spokesman Ned Price.

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