Translated material
US State Department urged the Kremlin to stop pressure on Radio Liberty
US Secretary of State Anthony Biginen called on the Russian authorities to stop pressure on the media corporation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This was announced at a briefing for the press by the representative of the State Department of Ned Price.
. @StatedeptSpox : @Secblinken and Officials have called on the Russian government to reconsider Actions AGAINST @rFERL and we have glutified to Hear to Hear Statements from some of second International Partners Joining that Call. pic.twitter.com/2lfho5lzx1
- Department of state (@statededpt) April 29, 2021
The representative of the State Department said that Blinken discussed the situation around the Radio Liberty, the present time and the Lrueh projects of the RSA/RS with the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov. Price did not reveal the details of the conversation. The State Department turned to the US foreign partners with a request to join his call to the Russian authorities.
Price also noted that in case of continuation of the pressure of the Russian authorities on the RSA/RS, the United States may take response measures.
Radio Liberty and other projects of the Corporation of the RSE/RS in 2017 were included in the Russian authorities in the register of "media-foreign agents". Media organization has repeatedly emphasized that she did not consider himself an “agent” of any foreign state, since its editorial policy is completely independent.
Last autumn, Roskomnadzor ordered the media-foreign regents in a special way to label their publications. Radio Liberty, which complied with all the norms of Russian legislation, refused to fulfill this requirement, regarding it as a violation of the Russian Constitution, the Law on the media and an attempt to interfere with the editorial policy. Roskomnadzor announced the preparation of freedom and its projects in relation to Radio more than 500 protocols about violations of the rules for marking journalistic materials. The total amount of fines may exceed 100 million rubles.
- LLC "RSA/RS", representing in Russia, media corporation Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights with a request for suspension and canceling court decisions on these administrative protocols. In this regard, the President of the Corporation Jamie Fly said: "The Russian authorities will not be able to force RSA/RS to refuse freedom of speech and honest journalism. We will not allow Roskomnadzor and the Kremlin to make decisions instead of how to turn to an audience in Russia."