The broadcaster “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)”, founded and financed by the US, is included in the register of “undesirable organizations” in Russia.
The Kremlin is taking increasingly strict action against critical reporting. As has now become known, the activity of the American channel “Radio Free Europe” is now banned in the largest country in the world. A document in the Russian Justice Ministry database, seen on Tuesday by the AFP news agency, declares that the activities of the US-funded media are “undesirable”. The ban also threatens the broadcaster’s employees with legal prosecution in Russia.
What is an unwanted foreign organization?
The Kremlin classifies as undesirable foreign organizations primarily foreign and international, but also originally Russian non-governmental organizations that are no longer allowed to operate in Russia.
Moscow currently has 142 organizations classified as ‘undesirable’, including ‘Greenpeace’, the Russian media-in-exile ‘Meduza’, the research network ‘Bellingcat’ and the animal and environmental protection organization ‘WWF’.
There is a risk of prison sentences
Anyone who cooperates with ‘undesirable organizations’ in Russia must expect high fines and, in extreme cases, even prison sentences. RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who has dual Russian and American citizenship, is currently in custody in Russia.
She is accused, among other things, of failing to register as a ‘foreign agent’. In Russia, people, media and organizations are branded as foreign agents if they receive money from another country. The aim is to stigmatize them as spies working in the interests of other states.
To the background
Radio Free Europe was founded in 1949, at the height of the Cold War, and broadcast from Munich for decades. At the invitation of the then Czech President Vaclav Havel, the radio house moved to Prague in 1995.
In February 2020, the Russian Ministry of Justice classified “Radio Free Europe” as a foreign agent. Afterwards, the organization itself and its managers were repeatedly fined. The reason: the necessary marking that Russian law required to be affixed as a foreign agent was missing. In total, the broadcaster had to pay a fine of 998.5 million rubles (about 10 million euros).
After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the ‘Radio Free Europe’ site was blocked in Russia.
Source: Krone
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