EU Bans Distribution of 4 Russian News Outlets

The European Union said on May 17 it was suspending the distribution of four Russia-linked media outlets in the EU, despite Moscow’s warning this week that any such move would draw swift retaliation. The Council of the EU, the 27-nation bloc’ legislative body, banned four Russian-linked news media outlets, Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta, for what it calls the spread of propaganda about the invasion of Ukraine and disinformation about the EU parliamentary elections that will take place in three weeks. “These media outlets are under the permanent direct or indirect control of the leadership of the Russian Federation and have been essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and for the destabilization of its neighboring countries,” the council said in a statement....