June 6, 2022, 11:05 p.m. ET
June 6, 2022, 11:05 pm ETNed Price, State Department spokesman, said that “qualified” Russian journalists still receive visas to work in the United States, but American journalists in Moscow were threatened that their loans were at risk. Credit … Photo of the pool by Andrew Harnick
The State Department on Monday accused Russia of threatening American journalists in Moscow and rejected accusations by the Kremlin that the Biden administration had censored Russian journalists in the United States.
State Department spokesman Ned Price condemned reports that Russia’s foreign ministry summoned U.S. journalists to a meeting Monday and warned that their visas and credentials could be jeopardized in retaliation for what he called hostility to the U.S. government. to Russian reporters in America.
“The threat of professional journalists simply trying to do their job and trying to isolate the Russian population from any foreign information illustrates the fragility and fragility of the Russian government’s story,” Price said.
Reuters first reported on Monday that Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who was sanctioned by the Biden administration last week, told U.S. journalists at the meeting that Russian journalists in the United States had faced problems with visa renewal and harassment. from US intelligence agencies and blocked bank accounts. Ms Zakharova reportedly warned that American journalists in Russia could face similar problems with visas, credentials and banking.
Mr Price said the Biden administration continued to issue visas to “qualified” Russian journalists in the United States and had not revoked their credentials.
Last month, the finance ministry imposed sanctions on three media outlets it said were directly or indirectly owned by the Russian state: Russia-1, Channel One and NTV. Mr Price said their revenues “supported President Putin’s war”, adding: “Many other independent and state-linked individuals remain unauthorized”.
Major private US media platforms such as YouTube and Google have blocked other Kremlin-funded Russian news outlets, including RT and Sputnik, though not on orders from the US government.
Mr Price said Moscow was making a “false equivalence”, suggesting that the United States was censoring reports of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. He noted that Russia has criminalized the use of the word “war” to describe its military campaign, which the Kremlin has described as a “special operation.” A new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March also allows people sentenced to 15 years in prison for spreading “false” information about the conflict.
“The Russian government is fundamentally and deliberately ignoring what it means to have a free press, as evidenced by the blocking or banning of almost any independent Russian media outlet that seeks to report in their country,” Price said.
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