Russian embassy urges Washington to ‘stop restricting free speech’

The Russian embassy in Washington has called on the US "to stop the practice of restricting press freedom.” The statement comes after RT was among media outlets forced to register as foreign agents. "These steps signal continuation of the policy of pressure on the Russian mass media,” the statement said. "It is obvious that now attempts are made to intimidate the commercial companies cooperating with our media resources." The Russian embassy slammed the US push for Reston Translator, the partner company of the Russian information agency Sputnik, to register as a foreign agent. "We call on the US authorities to stop the practice of restricting freedom of the press as regards the Russian media," the embassy said. "Also, we would like to warn against imposition of individual restriction [of] our correspondents in the US." An intensification of the “struggle in the field of mass information does not meet the interests of Russian-American collaboration,” the statement concluded.