Russia’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill allowing the government to register international media outlets as foreign agents, a swift retaliation to the U.S. demands made to a Russian TV channel, The Washington Post reports.
The bill comes days after the Russian state-funded RT registered with the U.S. Justice Department as a foreign agent following pressure from Washington.
U.S. intelligence agencies allege that RT served as a Kremlin tool to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia has denied any interference.
The bill comes days after the Russian state-funded RT registered with the U.S. Justice Department as a foreign agent following pressure from Washington.
U.S. intelligence agencies allege that RT served as a Kremlin tool to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia has denied any interference.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has harshly criticized the U.S. demand regarding the RT as an attack on freedom of speech and warned that Russia would retaliate.
During Wednesday's debates, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin described the new legislation as a "symmetrical answer" to the U.S. and a signal that "our media can't be treated like that."
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The bill will now pass to the upper house, which is expected to quickly rubber-stamp it next week, and then to Putin for signing.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the legislation will provide the necessary framework for the government to retaliate to any foreign action against the Russian media.
"Any infringement on the freedom of Russian media abroad will not be left without a harsh answer," Peskov said. He added that the government will "use the opportunities offered by the bill for a timely quid pro quo response."
Peskov refrained from comment on how the bill could be applied and which foreign media outlets could be singled out.
The broadly phrased bill will leave it to the Russian government to determine which foreign media outlets would be designated as foreign agents, said Leonid Levin, the head of the Duma committee for information.
He noted that the measure would allow Russia to mirror the U.S. demands for RT or any other such action taken by other countries.
"I would like to hope that it will only be used once and there will be no need for more retaliatory action," he added.