Russia prohibits internet access to 81 international media, including several Spanish ones

Russia announced this Tuesday that it prohibits the broadcast and access from its territory over the internet to 81 European media outlets, four of them Spanish. The measure is the response to the restrictions adopted on May 17 by the Council of the European Union against three Russian media outlets – the RIA Novosti Agency and the newspapers Izvestia and Rossískaya Gazeta– and which have come into force this week.

The list, published on the website by the Russian Foreign Ministry, includes the agency’s websites Efe and of The country, The world and Spanish Television. Regarding the media in 25 countries of the European Union (EU), “response measures are introduced to limit broadcasting and access to their resources on the Internet from the territory of the Russian Federation.”

The statement highlights that the restrictions are adopted against media that “systematically spread unreliable information on the progress of the special military operation”, in reference to how the military campaign deployed in Ukraine since February 2022 is known in Russia.

Among the media affected are also newspapers such as the German newspaper Die Zeit and the magazine Der Spiegel; the Italians La Stampa and The Republic; the portuguese Public; the french Le Monde and Liberation; or the dutch magazine Algemeen Dagblad.

It also includes television channels such as the Italian RAI; the French LC1 and Arte; the Irish RTE; the Portuguese RTP Internacional; the Dutch Nos or the Austrian ORF; in addition to the Radio France station. In addition to Efethe agencies whose access in Russia will be restricted are the French Agence France-Press and Agence Europe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that had repeatedly warned occasions at different levels that “politically motivated harassment” of Russian journalists and the ban “unfounded” of the Russian media in the territory of the European Union “would not go unanswered”.

Moscow emphasizes that, since Brussels chose to choose the “climbing” pathin this way, forced the Russian authorities to adopt “symmetrical and proportionate measurements”. “The responsibility for this development of events lies exclusively with the leaders of the EU and the countries that support said bloc,” he said.

In mid-May, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharovawarned that his country would take retaliatory measures against Western correspondents on its territory if the EU restricted the work of Russian media. “Until now they felt our love, now they will also have to feel our retaliation“he said in a press conference.

He recalled that Moscow “will respond suddenly and in an extremely painful way for Westerners.” “If even one Russian media outlet is subject to unfounded restrictions, it will rebound on its colleagues here in Russia. I’m referring to Western journalists,” he said.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has restricted the access of foreign journalists to activities organized by the Russian state and in some cases did not extend the work visa for some Western correspondents.