Putin signs law on foreign media registration

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A new Russian law that gives the government power to label foreign-funded media outlets as "foreign agents" and impose sanctions on them has taken effect.

A presidential decree published on Saturday said President Vladimir Putin had signed into law the legislation, which the lower and upper houses of Russia's parliament approved the bill on Nov. 15 and Nov. 22, respectively.

The law was enacted after Russia's state-owned English news channel RT America was forced to register as a foreign agent in the United States by the Department of Justice under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

FARA requires "persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities."

A screenshot of RT's official website.

US authorities accused Russian media outlets of seeking to influence public opinion during the 2016 presidential election by spreading fake news. But Moscow sees the forced registration as a violation of freedom of speech and an obstacle to Russian media activities in the US.

According to the new Russian law, the Ministry of Justice will decide which media outlets should be listed as foreign agents and face possible restrictions in Russia.

The ministry said it has sent letters about possible recognition as foreign agents to nine US government-sponsored news outlets – VOA, Caucasus Reality, Crimea Reality, Siberia Reality, the Idel Reality regional project, the Current Time TV channel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir service and the Factograph project.

(Top image: File photo)

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency