Moscow blocks REL bank accounts, DASH: Russia's attempt to suppress independent media

The US State Department said on Friday it was "extremely concerned" by reports that Russia had blocked RFE / RL's bank accounts.

The statement was made by department spokeswoman Jalina Porter. Ms. Porter added that the act is a new attempt by Russia to suppress independent media and deny the Russian people access to objective news.

The bank accounts of Radio Free Europe in Russia were frozen after a visit to the offices of this American agency in Moscow, by bailiffs.

The move came after Federal Court Bailiffs agents began proceedings on May 14 against the Russian branch of Radio Free Europe over unpaid fines, accumulated for violating Russia's de facto laws on "foreign agents."

The bailiff service sent Radio Free Europe a court order authorizing it to search the organization's bank accounts and freeze them.

The Moscow-based bank, where the radio accounts are located, was ordered by the bailiff service to block the agency's accounts in order to secure payment of unpaid fines in the amount of $ 68,000.

The proceedings concern 10 appeals to the court, for which the two-month period within which the payments should have been made has expired.

Earlier in the day (May 14), bailiffs spent about two hours at radio stations in Moscow and maintained an inventory of equipment. They did not interfere in the activity of the office and did not stop anyone.

Since the beginning of the year, the state media monitoring agency Roskomnadzor has filed with the courts about 520 complaints about violations of the law, according to it, from eight radio projects included in the Ministry of Justice's register of "foreign agents" in the media. .

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty rejects the designation "foreign agent" and has refused to comply with Roskomnadzor's strict demands that any published article or broadcast material be included in the label. Radio is in the process of appealing, but Russian courts have so far rejected more than 250 of its requests.

Në total, gjobat ndaj transmetuesit arrijnë në rreth 950,000 dollarë.

Radio Evropa e Lirë i ka kërkuar Gjykatës Evropiane të të Drejtave të Njeriut të ndalë Rusinë që të zbatoje vendimet lidhur me gjobat, për të cilat agjencia amerikane, thotë se synojnë të mbysin median e pavarur.

Gjatë një konferencë për shtyp më 13 maj, zëdhënësja e Ministrisë së Jashtme ruse Maria Zakharova hodhi poshtë akuzat e zyrtarëve amerikanë se veprimet e Moskës kundër radios "janë shkelje e drejtave të gazetarëve".

Deklaratat tha ajo "provojnë edhe një herë rolin e vërtetë të radios si zëdhënëse e propagandës së qeverisë amerikane".

Presidenti i radios Jamie Fly hodhi poshtë deklaratat e zonjës Zakharova, duke thënë se kompania do të vazhdojë të luftojë ndaj “përpjekjeve të Kremlinit për të censuruar të vërtetat e hidhura".

" Radio journalists in Russia are patriotic non-American Russian citizens ," he said. " They provide independent news and information so that their fellow citizens do not get used to untruth and live with lies, as one of these journalists said recently ."

" We will not be silent and we will not abandon our Russian audience ," Mr Fly said.

Also on May 13, the Russian State News Agency TASS reported that a court in Moscow had suspended 140 complaints against the radio and remanded the cases for review to a lower court. But Radio Free Europe says it has not been officially informed of such a decision./VOA