Head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Moscow sees reporting of facts as a threat to itself
Russia, which in 2021 included Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in the list of organizations it calls “foreign agents”, this time made the restrictions on this media more severe and included it in the list of what it called “undesirable organizations”.According to the list of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, which was published on the Ministry’s website yesterday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is the 142nd organization that is included in this list.According to the order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, anyone who works with RFE/RL, funds the agency, or interviews with it, will face criminal charges.This new action of Russia has been met with different reactions.Stephen Kapus, head of RFE/RL, says that Russia’s action represents Moscow’s most serious restriction against the media.He also said that Russia sees the publication of real reports as a threat to itself:”This is the latest example of how the Russian government considers reporting the truth to be a real threat, which is very shocking. In recent days, we have seen millions of our Russian-speaking audience turn to all the news channels for news of the death of Alexei Navalny. And our websites were visited, which was an unprecedented number. They turned to us to know the truth and we will not back down in this vital and important mission.”US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says that Russian leaders do not want their people to know what the Russian regime is doing abroad or what Russia is doing to its own people.The so-called “undesirable body” law was passed in 2015 with Kremlin support against NGOs and other foreign-funded organizations.The Committee to Protect Journalists says that Russian authorities have put dozens of media organizations on the list of undesirable organizations over the past few years.Radio Free Europe is an independent and non-profit organization based in Prague, Czech Republic.Since the Cold War, this media has been funded by the US Congress through the United States’ World Media Office.Radio Azadi/Radio Free Europe currently broadcasts in 27 languages in 23 countries and covers areas where residents do not have access to free media.