According to Reuters, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that it would convene a meeting with leaders of US media outlets in Moscow to inform them of the upcoming response to US restrictions on Russian media.
“The most rigorous actions will undoubtedly follow if the activity of the Russian media — operators and journalists — is not normalized in the United States,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned.
“To this purpose, the chiefs of all American media’s Moscow offices will be invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press center on Monday, June 6 to explain the implications of their government’s unfriendly attitude in the media arena,” she stated. “It’s something we’re looking forward to.”
According to Reuters, Russian lawmakers passed a bill last month granting prosecutors the ability to close foreign media desks in Moscow if a Western country has been “unfriendly” to state media, claiming that Western countries have imposed unfair limitations on its media overseas.
Since the commencement of the invasion, the European Union and the United Kingdom have taken legal action to restrict access to Russian state-run news channel RT, according to the Washington Examiner.
According to the Examiner, the CBC’s Moscow bureau was shut down following the bill’s passing.
Since the beginning of its campaign on Ukraine in February, Russia has tightened media restrictions and imposed 15-year prison penalties for journalists who broadcast “false” news on its so-called “special military operation.”
According to the Examiner, Eastern Russian officials obtained their first conviction under this law on Monday against someone who posted videos to a social media page.
According to Reuters, the new regulation has prompted some Western media outlets to leave the nation.
Russia’s “special military operation” has the avowed purpose of disarming and “denazifying” neighboring Ukraine. Ukraine and its supporters say it’s just a pretext for a war that’s killed thousands of people, displaced over 6 million people, and damaged infrastructure.