Russia's Foreign Ministry
Russia's Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow will respond to the EU's ban on some Russian media, including RIA Novosti and Izvestia.

Russia to restrict access to broadcast resources of a number of EU media outlets and operators on its territory from June 25 in response to the bloc's ban on some Russian media, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

"As a response to the decision taken by the EU Council on May 17 to ban 'any broadcast activity' on three Russian media (RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta), which goes into effect today, on June 25, we introduce counter restrictions on access on the territory of Russia to broadcast resources of a number of media outlets of the EU member states and all-European media operators who systematically disseminate false information about the progress of a special military operation," the ministry said in a statement.


Comment: Which would be the vast majority of the EU's legacy media outlets.


Russia has repeatedly and at various levels warned that politically motivated harassment of domestic journalists and unfounded bans on Russian media in the EU will not go unnoticed, the statement read.

"Despite this, Brussels and the capitals of the bloc countries chose to take the path of escalation, forcing Moscow to take mirror and proportionate countermeasures with another illegitimate ban. Responsibility for such a development of events lies solely with the leadership of the European Union and the member countries that supported such a decision. If restrictions on Russian media are lifted, the Russian side will also reconsider its decision in relation to the mentioned media operators," the ministry said.

Restrictions will target media outlets and operators from more than 20 EU countries, including Austrian state television and radio company ORF, Hungarian internet portal 444, Spanish newspapers El Mundo, El Pais, the EFE agency, Italian newspapers La Stampa, La Repubblica, television company RAI, French newspapers Le Monde, La Croix, news agency Agence France-Presse, radio company Radio France, as well as publications Politico, Euobserver and others.

The EU Council said on Monday that it had approved the 14th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes a ban on some Russian media such as RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta.