Moscow will block access to 81 European media outlets in retaliation for the EU’s ban on four Kremlin-funded news organizations, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.
Last month, Brussels declared it would suspend the broadcasting activities of the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, the pro-government newspapers Izvestia and Rossiiskaya Gazeta, and the news website Voice of Europe starting June 25.
In response, Moscow has listed 81 newspapers, broadcasters, and magazines from all but two EU member states that will no longer be accessible inside Russia. Among those affected by the ban are the French news agency AFP, the German weekly Der Spiegel, and the European edition of Politico.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed these news outlets “systematically disseminate false information about the course of the special military operation,” referring to the Kremlin’s term for its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Since the full-scale invasion, Russia has banned numerous independent foreign and domestic media outlets, labeled some popular Western social media platforms as “extremist,” and effectively criminalized any criticism of its war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich’s trial for espionage in Russia began behind closed doors on Wednesday, a process his employer, The Wall Street Journal, has denounced as a “sham.”
Gershkovich, 32, formerly a reporter for The Moscow Times, is the first Western journalist to be arrested in Russia on spying charges since the Cold War. He was detained by Federal Security Service (FSB) agents during a reporting trip last March.
He, his employer, and the U.S. government strongly deny the accusations against him.
On Wednesday, Gershkovich appeared in the glass defendants’ cage at Yekaterinburg’s Sverdlovsk Regional Court, smiling and greeting journalists before they were asked to leave so proceedings could start.
His trial begins 15 months after his detention, during which he has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, known for its harsh conditions. Gershkovich faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if convicted, an outcome widely expected.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
