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Radio Free Europe in Moscow: “Unwanted organization”

Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina / REUTERS

Moscow bans the US broadcasting group Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from continuing to broadcast in Russia. According to the AFP news agency, a document in the Russian Ministry of Justice database declares the activities of the US-financed medium to be "undesirable." The ban also threatens the employees of the broadcasting group with legal prosecution in Russia.

Since the start of the Ukraine offensive two years ago, the Kremlin has increasingly taken action against critical voices and has already banned a number of foreign organizations. A law on “undesirable organizations” passed in 2015 allows the Kremlin to sanction NGOs and other organizations that receive funding from foreign sources. The label has been applied to dozens of foreign groups since Moscow began using the classification. It also exposes journalists and others who work with the organization, as well as its donors, to criminal charges.

RFE/RL has also been under pressure for a long time. In 2017, Russian authorities asked the broadcaster to register as a foreign agent. RFE/RL then challenged Moscow's interpretation of foreign agent laws at the European Court of Human Rights. Russia fined the organization millions of dollars.

RFE employee imprisoned as a “foreign agent.”

Alsu Kurmasheva, an employee of the station, was also arrested last October. She had traveled to Russia because of a “family emergency” and was temporarily taken into custody in Kazan before her return flight. The journalist is accused of failing to register as a "foreign agent" and of violating Russia's strict military censorship laws. On Tuesday, a court rejected her request to transfer her from pretrial detention to house arrest for health reasons.

The “undesirable organizations” law, passed in 2015, is a Kremlin-backed regulation for NGOs and others funded from foreign sources. The label has been applied to dozens of foreign groups since Moscow began using the classification, banning one organization entirely. It also exposes journalists and others who work with the organization, as well as its donors, to criminal charges.

eru/AFP/AP