WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States continues to issue visas to qualified Russian journalists and has not revoked the foreign press credentials of any Russian journalists working in the United States, the State Department said on Monday, adding that the Kremlin is engaged in a “full assault” on media freedom.
Reuters reported on Monday that Russia warned U.S. news organizations they risked being stripped of their accreditation unless the treatment of Russian journalists in the United States improves, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
“Suffice it to say the Russians continue to make a false equivalency. The Russian government fundamentally and willfully disregards what it means to have a free press, as evidenced by them blocking or banning nearly every independent Russian outlet seeking to report inside their country,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Rami Ayyub and Simon Lewis; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chris Reese)
