俄罗斯司法部星期二将包括美国之音在内的驻俄罗斯美国媒体定为“外国代理人”。
司法部的外国代理人名单还包括自由欧洲/自由广播电台和其它一些媒体。俄罗斯上个月警告他们可能会受到影响。
俄罗斯总统普京11月签署了一项新法律，授权政府把接受海外资金的媒体机构定为“外国代理人” 并予以制裁。
俄罗斯官员称这部新法律是针对他们所称的美国施压俄罗斯媒体的对等反应。11月13号，俄罗斯国家资金资助的俄罗斯RT电视台根据美国数十年前制定的外国代理人登记法案，注册登记为外国代理人。
美国驻俄罗斯大使洪博培说，美国的这项法律是为了增加透明度，但是并不限制电视台在美国的运作。
美国国务院谴责俄罗斯的新法律，说这部法律阻碍新闻自由。
国务院发言人诺尔特上个月在一份声明中说：“新的俄罗斯法律允许司法部将媒体定为外国代理人，监视或封锁某些因特网活动。这对俄罗斯的新闻自由构成一个新威胁。”
Russia’s justice ministry on Tuesday designated nine U.S. media outlets, including the Voice of America, as “foreign agents.”
The ministry further listed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and several of its affiliates, after warning last month they could be affected.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law in November empowering the government to designate media outlets receiving funding from abroad as “foreign agents” and impose sanctions against them.
Russian officials have called the new legislation a “symmetrical response” to what they describe as U.S. pressure on Russian media. On November 13, Russian state-funded television channel RT registered in the United States under a decades-old law called the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman said FARA is aimed at promoting transparency but does not restrict the television network’s operation in the United States.
The U.S. State Department has condemned Russia’s law, saying it obstructs press freedom.
“New Russian legislation that allows the Ministry of Justice to label media outlets as ‘foreign agents’ and to monitor or block certain internet activity presents yet another threat to free media in Russia,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement last month.