This decision was very likely given the blocking of the bank accounts of the chain by the General Directorate of the Treasury, following new sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
MO12345LEMONDE
The outcome was inevitable since the freezing of his accounts, no longer allowing to pay his employees and his providers. RT France, French branch of the Russian media RT, announced on Saturday January 21 its “closure”. A few days earlier, the president and director of information from RT France, Xenia Fedorova, had announced that “all the funds present on [the station account were] frozen at the request of the General Directorate of the Treasury”.
“This makes it impossible to continue our activity, a -Is it tweeted on Saturday . After five years of relentlessness, the authorities in power therefore achieved their ends: the closure of RT France. “
The funds of RT France are frozen at the request of the Directorate General of the Treasury, due to the 9th Package of Sanc… https://t.co/vepeowrn2k
– xfedorova (@xenia fedorova)
A little earlier in the day, Moscow promised to take retaliation measures against the French media in Russia. “The freezing of RT France accounts will lead to retaliatory measures against the French media in Russia. They will remain memories if the French authorities do not cease to terrorize Russian journalists,” warned a source in Russian diplomacy, Cited by Russian press agencies Ria Novosti and Tass.
Friday, the unions of RT France had denounced the gel of the accounts of the channel in France. “With this sanction, nearly one hundred employees and approximately fifty journalists who will probably switch to unemployment in unemployment,” the FO (Force Ouvrière) and SNJ (Syndicat des journalists) were moved in a statement.