The European Union mentioned on Friday it was suspending the distribution of 4 Russia-linked media retailers within the EU, regardless of a warning from Moscow this week that any such transfer would draw swift retaliation.
The ban applies to Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti information company and Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers, on the grounds that they “have been important and instrumental in bringing ahead and supporting Russia’s conflict of aggression towards Ukraine”, the European Council mentioned in an announcement.
The measure is a part of a deliberate 14th bundle of sanctions towards Russia over its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The bloc has beforehand imposed sanctions on Russian state-owned media Russia At this time and Sputnik.
The EU had signalled the transfer earlier this week, prompting Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to warn: “We are going to reply with lightning velocity and very painfully for the Westerners.” It was not clear how Moscow would hit again.
In an interview with Izvestia, the top of the worldwide division of the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) known as the EU ban “illegal” and mentioned the matter ought to have been determined by a courtroom.
Timur Shafir mentioned the ban would stop Russian-speakers dwelling in components of Europe as soon as underneath Soviet management from accessing what he known as “different data” on world occasions.