Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Ridicules Kiev's New Sanctions Against Agency

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, which includes Sputnik, ironically commented on Ukraine's decision to impose sanctions against a number of Russian media, including the agency itself.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko enacted the National Security and Defense Council's (NSDC) decision to expand the list of Russian individuals and legal entities, against which sanctions were imposed, and to extend the duration of the sanctions. The appendix to the NSDC decision mentions the sanctioned legal entities, including Rossiya Segodnya.

"Kiev has already imposed sanctions against several Russian and foreign journalists. Now agencies and broadcasters were targeted. It remains to introduce sanctions against Japanese voice recorders and video cameras, which are actively used by Russian reporters," Simonyan told Sputnik.

The sanctions include the blocking of assets — a temporary restriction on the right to use and dispose of property; stopping fulfillment of economic and financial obligations; restriction or termination of the provision of telecommunications services and the use of public telecommunications networks.

The sanctions were also imposed against such Russian TV channels as Zvezda, TVC, NTV Plus, RenTV, RBC.

Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is an international media group whose mission is to cover world events in a prompt, balanced, and unbiased manner. Rossiya Segodnya offers alternative views on key events in Russia and elsewhere. Besides Sputnik, the agency operates a number of information resources, including RIA Novosti, RIA Real Estate, Prime, R-Sport, RIA Rating and InoSMI. Rossiya Segodnya boasts the highest citation ranking among Russian media and is building the citation rate of its foreign brands while leading in the Russian blogosphere and social media.