PARIS, January 20. /TASS/. The bank account of RT France was blocked in the country on a request from the Directorate General of the Treasury at the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance, Le Monde reported.

"In accordance with the ownership criterion, RT France assets must be frozen," the paper quoted the ministry as saying on Thursday.

The decision was made under the ninth package of European Union sanctions, adopted in mid-December 2022. The package adds four Russian media companies - broadcaster VGTRK, National Media Group holding, ANO TV-Novosti and the Strategic Culture Foundation - to the European blacklist. ANO TV-Novosti is the managing company of RT France, so sanctions were applied to the French-based television channel as well.

RT France President and Chief Editor Kseniya Fedotova confirmed the information to TASS. She refrained from commenting on the broadcaster’s future plans "in order not to aggravate in any way the current situation for [the channel’s] journalists in France."

The European Union banned the RT TV channel and the Sputnik news agency on March 2, 2022.