Russian lawmakers cracked down on Voice of America and other U.S.-funded media outlets while U.S. lawmakers visited Moscow, which drew a rebuke from the State Department.
“The Russian government continues to stifle press freedom and media independence,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Friday evening. “This bill could provide the Russian government a new tool to target independent journalists and bloggers in retaliation for their work.”
[Byron York: What really happened when GOP senators visited Moscow]
A committee of lawmakers in the State Duma, the lower chamber of Russia’s legislature, advanced legislation that would force reporters who work for Voice of America and other U.S.-backed outlets to register individually as foreign agents. The move is seen as retaliation for the Justice Department’s decision to brand Kremlin-backed outlets as foreign agents for spreading disinformation during the 2016 elections.
“We condemn the selective targeting of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America (VOA) under Russia’s law on ‘foreign agent’ media outlets,” Nauert said. “RFE/RL and VOA remain the only media outlets designated under this law, which exacerbates long-standing restrictions on their distribution in Russia.”
Russia labeled the two media outlets “foreign agents” after the Justice Department required RT, formerly known as Russia Today, to register as a foreign agent in the U.S. American intelligence officials identified RT as a leading purveyor of information designed to “denigrate” 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But the Russian lawmakers moved to expend the foreign agent designation to individual writers on Tuesday.
“[T]he State Duma took another step toward approving legislation that would extend the ‘foreign agent’ designation from media outlets to individual persons taking part in the creation of materials for media outlets,” Nauert explained.
That legislative move coincided with a trip by U.S. lawmakers to Moscow, for a series of meetings with Russian diplomats and members of the State Duma. The meetings were dominated by a debate over Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections.
“We would bring it up and they would push back all the ways we interfere with their politics in terms of funding of NGOs, and Radio Free Europe and Voice of America, so it was just — we pushed back hard,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who participated in the trip, told the Washington Examiner. “I think they’re certainly on notice that their should be no meddling in 2018.”
Nauert said they should stop meddling with reporters as well.
“The United States again calls on the Russian government to uphold its commitments under the Helsinki Final Act and its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights to respect the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, in Russia,” she said.
