France freezes funds of the Kremlin's RT
France has frozen the funds of the Kremlin's propaganda channel RT France, which may cause it to cease to exist. Le Monde reports this, citing an internal memo by the channel's chief editor, Ksenia Fedorova, reviewed by the publication, writes Espreso.
"All the funds in our account have been frozen at the request of the Main Department of the Treasury," the message reads.
According to Fedorova, this makes it "impossible" to keep working "as before", since without the money RT (Russia Today) can no longer pay salaries to the employees still working for them.
We remind that on March 2, the EU urgently stopped the broadcasting of russian state media Sputnik and RT / Russia Today in the European Union in response "to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine."
However, RT France continued to produce content from its bureau in a western district of Paris, which was then broadcast in francophone countries of Africa.
As the publication writes, despite the EU sanctions, RT France also remained available online, namely on marginal platforms such as Odysee.
According to an employee, there is an anxiety among the team that they would not only receive no salary at the end of January, but also remain unemployed permanently due to the fact that they used to work for a mass media which has been branded as "propaganda".
As IMI reported, on September 8, 2022, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) asked France’s broadcasting regulator, ARCOM, to order French TV satellite operator Eutelsat to stop carrying three Russian TV channels that are spearheads of the Kremlin’s war propaganda.
In November, the organization filed a lawsuit against ARCOM over their refusal to take action against Eutelsat, which broadcasts Russian propaganda channels.
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