Moscow will retaliate against French media in Russia after the bank accounts of RT France, the French arm of the state broadcaster, were frozen, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.
“Blocking RT France accounts will lead to retaliation against French media in Russia,” an anonymous source from the Foreign Ministry told news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti. The measures “will be remembered,” said the source, who accused Paris of “terrorizing Russian journalists.”
On Friday, RT France’s unions – which were already banned from broadcasting – said their accounts in the country had been frozen.
The French finance ministry told AFP that the television station’s assets had been frozen in accordance with the latest EU sanctions, not at the initiative of Paris.
Unlike the initial sanctions imposed after Moscow launched its offensive in Ukraine, new EU measures adopted in December provide for an “asset freeze” of targeted entities, the same ministry source said.
One of these entities is “ANO TV Novosti, a parent company that owns 100% of RT France,” the source said when explaining the decision.
RT was blocked in most Western countries after the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February last year.
Source: DN
