Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that United States sanctions against Russian media outlets RT, Rossiya Segodnya and Sputnik are “an act of aggression”.
“Today, I really want to draw attention to an extraordinary situation that is of direct concern to us,” said Zakharova, opening her participation in the BRICS Media Summit in Moscow, which takes place on September 14 and 15.
“Yesterday, Russian journalists were attacked by the US. They were subjected to a real informational terrorist attack, both as a corporation and as individuals. This is not by chance or a mistake. That's a chain of planned actions. Year after year, our journalists – RT, Sputnik, and the colleagues who work with them, not only as correspondents and journalists, but as speakers and even guests on broadcasts – have been subjected to these attacks,” said Zakharova.
According to the diplomat, the sanctions against the Russian media constitute an “attack on freedom of expression, on the profession of journalism and human dignity.”
Last Friday (13), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new sanctions against Russian state media outlets, accusing them of allegedly acting as an arm of Russia's intelligence operations to destabilize other countries' internal affairs. In particular, Blinken accused the RT television channel of raising funds via the Internet to buy equipment for Russian troops operating in the war in Ukraine.
“They engage in covert influence activities aimed at undermining American elections and democracy, functioning as a de facto arm of the Russian intelligence apparatus,” Blinken said.
The Secretary of State added that the US, UK and Canada are launching a diplomatic campaign to counter what they called the RT “threat”.
“We are imposing sanctions against three entities and two individuals for Russia's covert operations to influence the world, including interference in Moldova's democracy and its upcoming elections,” he added.
The announcement is part of a series of actions that Washington has been taking against Russian state media amid the US presidential election campaign. On September 4, the country imposed sanctions against the Rossiya Segodnya state media group, which includes RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Sputnik and Ruptly, for allegedly seeking to influence the US presidential elections.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry called for unity in the international community against the US stance on Russian media.
“If now the media community doesn't unite, if every director of a media corporation doesn't understand that tomorrow, as Blinken said, 'if you're not at the table [of the international system], you're on the menu', that if tomorrow any corporation 'can be on the menu', it will be too late. You can't make that mistake. You can't miss this moment. And I repeat, it's not because it's an attack on Russia and the Russian media. The point is that the US and its entire satellite community yesterday announced a war on freedom of expression, and that's exactly how we should look at it,” he said.
Edited by: Nicolau Soares
