The European Court of Justice today rejected a request by the news network RT France (formerly Russia Today) to annul its broadcast suspension imposed under European Union sanctions against Moscow, which immediately vowed to take retaliatory measures against Western media.
In its ruling, which the Russian state media has announced it will appeal, the EU court mainly argues that this “temporary ban” does not “call into question” freedom of expression” as such” contrary to what was claimed by the Russian state media, which was sanctioned after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We will take similar pressure measures targeting Western media working in our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We will not let them work in our country anymore,” he added.
Peskov said that Russia Today could not work in Europe but expressed hope that it would find “loopholes” to resume broadcasting.
Accused of being Kremlin “disinformation” instruments, Sputnik and RT media outlets (including its French-language version, RT France) have been banned from broadcasting in the EU since March 2, on television as well as online, following an agreement by the EU27 shortly after the war began.
The EU sanctions, which apply to RT’s English unit and its operations in Britain, Germany, France, and Spain, mean that RT’s content cannot be broadcast or distributed by providers in the EU.
The situation in France is special as, following the suspension of RT in Germany at the end of 2021, France was the only EU member state to host an RT subsidiary on its territory.
In its decision today, the court ruled that “the restrictions on the freedom of expression of RT France (…) are proportionate, given that they are appropriate and necessary for the purposes pursued”, i.e. to prevent “propaganda” in favour of ” of a military attack on Ukraine by the Russian Federation” during “television and internet broadcasts by a media outlet wholly funded by the Russian state”.
These measures, “since they are temporary and reversible, do not cause a disproportionate blow to the necessary content of RT France’s freedom of business”.
