The FOIA request is part of the measures that RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said the broadcaster would take after being asked to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the United States. The request, according to RT America News Director Mikhail Solodovnikov, is asking why other broadcasting companies that are state-owned are, unlike RT, not registered as "foreign agents" under FARA.
"As for your FOIA request, I understand that it is currently in the pipeline and individuals are evaluating it in due course," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Hickey told reporters in a telephonic press briefing.
Solodovnikov also inquired about the status of the Advisory Opinion request that RT submitted concerning their status as a "foreign agent" under FARA.
However, the DOJ official made clear that a response would not be forthcoming.
"As you know, you received the Determination Letter from us and that letter set forth the reasoning and our opinion as to why RT [America], or rather T & R Productions, had an obligation to register. That is essentially what you would’ve gotten from the Advisory Opinion so there’s no purpose served by separately copying and pasting the very same reasoning and the very same facts," Hickey said.
Earlier in December, RT’s Managing Director Alexey Nikolov told Sputnik that RT America will expand despite the registration as a "foreign agent."
FARA requires any individuals or entities representing a foreign government in the United States to register as a "foreign agent." The law necessitates that those registered with the DOJ as "foreign agents" to make periodic public disclosure of their activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. FARA was enacted in 1938.
