RT France: The French branch of the Russian channel RT announces its closure
RT France, the French subsidiary of Russian broadcaster RT, which has been suspended in the European Union, announced its “closure” this Saturday, the day after its bank accounts were frozen.
Closing slap for RT France. This Saturday, Xenia Fedorova, President and Director of RT France, announced on social media the closure of the French channel of the Russian channel. “After 5 years of relentlessness, those in power have therefore achieved their goal: the closure of RT France (…) The General Directorate of the Ministry of Finance has decided to freeze RT France’s bank accounts, making it impossible to continue our activity,” she wrote.
RT France funds are frozen at the request of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Finance due to the 9th package of sanctions not directed against RT France. Our channel can no longer continue its activities. Here is our communication. pic.twitter.com/aF3JUsqkLl
— Xenia Fedorova (@xfedorova) January 21, 2023
She denounced an “arbitrary measure” and asserted that 123 French employees, including 77 press card holders, “are risking not receiving their January salary today and losing their jobs because of the Prince”.
On Friday, the RT France unions denounced the freezing of the chain’s accounts, reiterating that with this sanction “almost 100 employees and around fifty journalists are likely to become unemployed”.
Sputnik and RT will be banned from broadcasting in the EU from March 2nd
The media outlets Sputnik and RT (including the French-language version RT France), accused by the Kremlin of being tools of “disinformation”, were banned from broadcasting on TV and the internet in the EU under a March 2 agreement the Twenty- Seven shortly after the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
The European judiciary seized by RT France confirmed this decision in July. This first sanctions package only banned the broadcasting of RT content in the EU, not the production itself.
To date, therefore, RT France has continued to produce and broadcast content that, despite the ban, could be consulted via a virtual private network (VPN), a service that allows you to surf the Internet by bypassing the block.
