Russian senators approve 'foreign agents' media bill: Reports

November 23, 2017 | 13:00
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MOSCOW: Russia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday (Nov 22) approved a bill which will allow the authorities to list foreign media operating in Russia as "foreign agents", responding to US restrictions on two Russian media outlets, RIA news agency reported.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin will host the summit with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani AFP/Alexei Druzhinin

Last week the "foreign agents law" was swiftly approved by the lower chamber of the legislature. It now needs President Vladimir Putin's signature to become law.

The move by the compliant parliament heavily dominated by Putin's loyalists comes after his threat this month that Russia would respond in kind to what he said were Washington's measures to restrict the freedom of speech of Russian media organisations operating on US soil.

Under the new legislation, US and other foreign media would have to present themselves as such on all paperwork and submit to intensive scrutiny of staffing and financing.

The Kremlin's council for human rights had recommended the Senate reject the bill, saying it was vaguely worded and difficult to reasonably enforce.

"Any foreign media could be labelled a foreign agent quite arbitrarily by the justice ministry of the Russian Federation," the council said in a statement Monday.

Russia's justice ministry said last week it had already contacted the US-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to inform them they might have to start labelling themselves as "foreign agents".

RT television, which is funded by the Kremlin to give a Russian point of view on international affairs, confirmed this month it had registered as a foreign agent in the United States, meeting a deadline from the US Department of Justice.

Washington considers RT a propaganda arm of the Kremlin and told it to register its American operation under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which is aimed at lobbyists and lawyers representing foreign political interests.

Agencies/ AFP

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