The US Justice Department gave RT an ultimatum. The Washington arm of the TV company has until November 13 to register as a foreign agent. Otherwise, the head of RT America will be arrested, and all accounts of the organization will be frozen. Other media, however — like British and German — are not facing the same requirement. Alexander Khristenko is reporting from the USA on why this decision has been dubbed cannibalistic.
RT's motto is 'Question More', but Washington doesn't seem to want the American viewers to ask unnecessary questions and hear a different point of view on domestic and international events. The channel is about to face new restrictions and even bans. In the draft defense budget for the next year, senators suggest banning the distributors from broadcasting Russian state video content. This means another crack-down on RT.
The editorial board is sure that the US is using any means to squeeze the Russian TV channel out of its media space. The US Justice Department requires the channel to register as a foreign agent.
According to Margarita Simonyan, that will make RT's work impossible: "Imagine that you work in the media and you have to sign everything you do with "foreign agent", "produced by a foreign agent." How should any media or the audience take it? You have to disclose personal data, the terms and conditions of the contracts, including the contracts with the employer. All the interviews you do are supposed to be reported to the ministries and agencies. You can't do work like this. These conditions would destroy us as a media outlet".
Considering the pressure coming from the authorities and special services, the channel's employees, who are mostly Americans, are more likely to choose the safety of their family over their profession.
Mariya Zakharova, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman: "When all the machinery, capabilities and power of the US security services are used to shut down a channel, that works legally and transparently, that has never been presented with any proof of its illicit activity, this is the case where we will act in a tit-for-tat manner, but it will only be a retaliation".
The Federation Council is ready, if necessary, to amend the media law in order to adequately respond to modern challenges.
Aleksey Pushkov, Senator: "This being an information war, we have to act accordingly. The Russian legislation should contain stipulations that allow for restrictive measures against Western media outlets, even if they were created by Russian founders".
The time for negotiating is running out. The US Justice Department requires RT to register as a foreign agent by Monday.
Alexander Khristenko, Nikolai Koskin, Elena Sokolova for Vesti from Washington, USA.
