The European Union stated on May 17 that it was suspending the distribution of four Russia-linked media outlets in the EU, despite Moscow’s warning this week that any such move would draw swift retaliation.
The Council of the EU, the 27-nation bloc’s legislative body, banned four Russian-linked news media outlets, Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta, for what it called the spread of propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine and disinformation about the EU parliamentary elections that will take place in three weeks.
“These media outlets are under the permanent direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation and have been essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and for the destabilization of its neighboring countries,” the council said in a statement.
The propaganda, information manipulation, and interference activities have targeted not only the Ukrainian state and its authorities but also European political parties, especially during election periods, EU’s “civil society, asylum seekers, Russian ethnic minorities, gender minorities, and the functioning of democratic institutions in the EU and its member states,” the statement explains.
However, the sanctions banned only broadcasting in the EU, according to the statement. The council stated that the targeted media outlets and their staff can still carry out activities other than broadcasting, such as research and interviews.
Freedom of Expression
The commission said in its statement that “the sanctions do not target freedom of opinion” because “they include specific safeguards for freedom of expression and journalistic activities,” and they only sanction broadcasting while allowing the sanctioned media to conduct other journalistic activities.
Article 11 states that “everyone has the right to freedom of expression” and “the freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.”
It also stipulates that the right to freedom of expression “shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
“[The sanctions] should be maintained until the Russian aggression against Ukraine is brought to an end, and until the Russian Federation, and its associated media outlets, cease to conduct propaganda actions against the union and its member states,” the regulation reads.
The measure is part of a planned 14th package of sanctions against Russia over its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The bloc has previously imposed sanctions on Russian state-owned media Russia Today and Sputnik.
The EU had signaled the move earlier this week, prompting Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to warn: “We will respond with lightning speed and extremely painfully for the Westerners.”
It was not clear how Moscow would hit back.
In an interview with Izvestia, the head of the international department of the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) called the EU ban “unlawful” and said the matter should have been decided by a court.
RUJ’s Timur Shafir said the ban would prevent Russian-speakers living in parts of Europe once under Soviet control from accessing what he called “alternative information” on world events.
The Czech government has imposed sanctions on a number of people after a pro-Russian influence operation was uncovered there. They are alleged to have approached members of the European Parliament and offered them money to promote Russian propaganda.
