EU Says Russian 'Foreign Agent' Law Stifles Independent Media
Voice of America
The European Union has called on Russia to repeal its controversial "foreign agent" law, which has been used to target a growing number of Russian-language media outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The call, made on May 17 by a spokesman for EU foreign-affairs chief Josep Borrell, comes as Russian authorities both expand their targets of the 9-year-old law, as well their enforcement of it. Last week, court bailiffs moved to begin seizing property from RFE/RL's Moscow bureau, requesting a list of equipment that potentially could be seized. Bailiffs also obtained a court order freezing the Moscow bank accounts used by RFE/RL. Days earlier, Russia's media regulator said it was adding VTimes, an online news site founded by ex-staffers of the newspaper Vedomosti, to its "foreign agent" list. The regulator had added another online news site, Meduza, previously.
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