Russia has declared nine US media outlets, including Voice of America and Radio Liberty, to be foreign agents.

The new law that makes it possible for foreign media to be declared foreign agents was rushed through the Russian parliament last month.

It means the media outlets have to declare their source of funding.

The move is in retaliation for the US justice department ordering the Russian channels RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents there.

US intelligence agencies have accused RT of being involved in a campaign of Russian interference in last year’s US presidential election.

The broadcaster denies the claim.

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By law, the nine media organisations listed by the Russian justice ministry will have to brand their output as the work of “foreign agents” – and disclose their source of funding.

Any “malicious” failure to comply could lead to fines or imprisonment of up to two years.

A similar law, targeting charities and other civil society groups, already exists.

Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are funded by the US government. Seven other media outlets affiliated to them will also have to label themselves foreign agents.

It was a response to the US branch of Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT being required to register in America as a foreign agent. Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, has also indicated it will bar several US media organisations from accessing parliament.

The list of nine media outlets includes websites, radio and television stations run by the two US government-funded broadcasters which target the North Caucasus and Crimea.

Some of their broadcasts are in the Tatar and Bashkir languages.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42234582

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The bill passed the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, unanimously in retaliation of the U.S. government pressuring Russian state-funded TV channel RT – formerly Russia Today – to register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent, the Washington Post reported.

RT will now have to disclose the sources of its funding and activities intended to influence a lawmaker or other government official, the New York Times reported. It remained unclear what the designation will mean for RT’s journalists.

U.S. authorities grew uneasy with RT’s presence following the 2016 presidential election — and allegations that RT tried to discredit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton while allegedly giving a pass to Republican Donald Trump.

Russian lawmakers didn’t say which specific media organizations would be asked to sign up for “foreign agent” status, saying that would be determined by Russia’s Ministry of Justice.

Media companies designated as foreign agents will have to file a quarterly report on their funding sources and activities to the Russian Justice Ministry. Their produced work will have to say that they are foreign agents in the country, the Times reported.

State-funded U.S. outlets operating in Russia such as Voice of America or Radio Free Europe are among the likely media organizations to be pressured, but the new possible law also covers private media companies, the Post reported.

In fact, the new rule could affect all foreign media outlets operating in Russia in a veiled attempt to crack down on negative coverage of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

“Numerous independent media in the country get foreign funding,” Tanya Lokshina, the Russia program director at Human Rights Watch, told the Times. “The foreign funding could become a pretext to crack down on them. It is just shockingly disproportionate and broad. The way it is written now, it appears it could be used for many different purposes.”

The lawmakers, however, were reluctant to pass the bill, saying they were forced after U.S. officials pressured RT.

“We didn’t want to pass this law,” Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of Parliament, told the Times. “This is a law that might not have existed. In Russia, we never took measures limiting freedom of speech in any of its forms.”

Dmitri S. Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, said that “any encroachment on the freedom of Russian media abroad is not and won’t be left without a strong condemnation,” according to the Times.

The measure now awaits to be approved by the Russian Senate and signed by Putin. The Russian leader reportedly expressed some concerns about the bill and its extensive scope.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/11/16/russian-lawmakers-pass-bill-requiring-overseas-media-to-register-as-foreign-agents.html

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