Russian deputies adopted Tuesday in first reading a bill which should make it possible to close in Russia, by simple decision of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the foreign media accused of disseminating information deemed to be false on the conflict in Ukraine.
The lower house of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, has indicated that these media may be banned “in the event of the dissemination of information aimed at discrediting the Russian armed forces or related to the introduction of sanctions” against Russia.
According to this bill, the Attorney General or his deputies will have the right to revoke a broadcast license from a media outlet if it publishes information deemed “illegal” or “dangerous”.
The accreditations of journalists working for foreign media may also be canceled, according to this text which will be adopted after three readings in the Duma and a final one in the upper house.
In a press release, the Duma adds that the bill also makes it possible to “close or limit the activities of a media in Russia, if the authorities of the country of origin of this media commit unfriendly acts towards Russian media in foreign “.
In early March, Russian authorities passed two laws criminalizing the “discrediting” of the Russian armed forces and the dissemination of “false information” about the latter, two offenses that can carry heavy prison sentences.
Since the Kremlin offensive, the Russian state media RT and Sputnik have also been banned from broadcasting in Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union, raising the risk of reprisals against the newsrooms of these countries working in Russia.
On May 18, Russia closed the Moscow office of Radio-Canada/CBC, in response to the ban on RT broadcasting in Canada.
Last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based NGO, called for the new proposed Russian law to be dropped, saying it would “facilitate the arbitrary banning of media outlets and lead to increase in journalists prosecuted for sharing information”.