The new US sanctions against RT are further proof that Washington does not want people to hear views that diverge from the mainstream narrative, RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anna Belkina has said.
The latest restrictions against the news outlet were announced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who accused it of being “engaged in covert influence activities” and “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence.” Earlier this month, the US authorities also sanctioned several Russian nationals, including RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan and three other senior RT employees, over alleged efforts to influence the upcoming US election.
Responding to the sanctions, Belkina stated that “there is nothing at all surprising” in Washington’s latest accusations. “At this point, it’s amusing to watch what their paranoid minds will come up with next,” she said, adding that since launching in 2005, RT “simply has been doing its job as journalists, bringing to audiences all around the world the stories and voices that the mainstream media wouldn’t allow.”
“The Western establishment has been trying to get rid of RT all this time.”
The deputy editor-in-chief cited former US President John F. Kennedy, who said: “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
Washington’s claims about RT “prove just the opposite – that they are in fact afraid, they are terrified of any truly dissenting voice,” she stated, adding that policymakers in Washington fear that this narrative will be heard in America and around the world.
“They want to be the ones to control all the information, all the narratives. Too bad for them, because RT isn’t going anywhere. We will continue doing our job and we will continue to find new ways to reach audiences in every corner of the world,” Belkina said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described the sanctions against RT as “xenophobia, racism, and Nazism in its purest form.” She also previously accused Washington of trampling on freedom of speech and democracy.