Russia’s RT France to close after French accounts frozen over Ukraine invasion
- ‘After five years of harassment, the authorities in power have achieved their goal: the closure of RT France,’ said Xenia Fedorova, the channel’s director
- Fedorova said 123 employees were at risk of not being paid for January and could lose their jobs because of the freeze – part of EU sanctions against Russia.
RT France, the French arm of the Russian state broadcaster, will shut down after its French bank accounts were frozen over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the channel’s director said on Saturday.
“After five years of harassment, the authorities in power have achieved their goal: the closure of RT France,” Xenia Fedorova said in a Twitter statement.
She said 123 employees were at risk of not being paid for January and could lose their jobs because of the account freeze – part of the latest European Union sanctions against Russia.
Moscow had already warned of retaliation for the move by the French finance ministry, first reported by the unions of RT France on Friday.
“The blocking of RT France accounts will lead to retaliatory measures against the French media in Russia,” the TASS and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted an anonymous foreign ministry source as saying, accusing Paris of “terrorising Russian journalists”.
The French finance ministry told Agence France-Presse that the assets of the chain had been frozen in compliance with the most recent EU sanctions, and not on Paris’s initiative.