23/01/2023 (Agence Europe) – The Russian TV channel RT announced on Saturday 21 January that it had closed its French subsidiary after its bank accounts were frozen the day before. France was the only EU country to have an RT subsidiary on its territory. “After 5 years of hounding, the ruling authorities have achieved their goal: the closure of RT France”, RT France director Xenia Fedorova commented on Twitter. The French government refuted this explanation, saying that the Kremlin-affiliated media outlet’s bank accounts had been frozen in accordance with European Union sanctions, as its parent company, ANO TV Novosti, was affected by the sanctions. The EU had already decided on 1 March 2022 to ban the broadcasting of the Russian state media RT and Sputnik (see EUROPE 12902/9). In reaction to the freezing of RT’s bank accounts, Moscow announced that “retaliatory measures against French media in Russia” would be put in place. (TM)