(MENAFN) The European Council has extended its ban on Russian media, prohibiting four more outlets from broadcasting within the European Union, accusing them of disseminating propaganda. This follows previous restrictions imposed since the Ukraine conflict intensified in February 2022, which also made sharing content from these organizations illegal in the European Union.
The newly blacklisted outlets, announced on Friday, include the Czech-based Voice of Europe, the prominent Russian news agency RIA Novosti, and two established newspapers, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The latter serves as the Russian government's official publication, releasing new laws, presidential decrees, and other executive documents to the public.
The council justified the ban as a necessary measure to combat a "systematic, international campaign of media and information manipulation, interference, and grave distortion of facts" regarding the Ukraine conflict. The European Commission praised the decision, asserting that Russia poses a growing threat to the European Union's democratic societies, particularly with European Parliament elections approaching.
The commission emphasized that the sanctions are not an attack on freedom of opinion, noting that journalists from the banned outlets are still permitted to engage in other activities within the European Union.
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