Russian MFA threatens French media after freezing RT France's bank accounts led to channel closing

The French outlet of the Russian state-sponsored news agency RT (Russia Today) has announced the closing of its channel due to its frozen bank accounts in the country.

"The main management of the treasury has taken the decision to freeze RT France's bank accounts, making it impossible to continue our operations", an official press release by RT read on January 20.

It further stated, that the closing of the channel is only the first step, predicting that other media outlets will be "targeted next".

A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that the freezing of bank accounts could lead to "retaliatory measures against the French media" present in Russia.

As reported by TASS, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry commented on 21 January on the announcement of the freezing of RT France's accounts, explaining that  "the blocking of RT France accounts will lead to retaliatory measures against French media in Russia", further warning, that "measures will be such that they will never forget them".

RT France had been airing in the French language since December 18, 2017 and was banned from being broadcasted in France on March 1, 2022 shortly after the start of Russia's illegal military actions in Ukraine.