MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow will start implementing its response measures to the US actions against RT next week, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
"We have really worked out response measures on the basis of Russian laws. As of today, there is the understanding that practical implementation of these response measures will start next week," Zakharova said on Rossiya-1 TV channel.
According to Zakharova, the US Department of Justice's demand on RT registration as a foreign agent means that the "American establishment has understood that it cannot win in the completition" with Russian media outlets.
READ MORE: Russian Embassy: US Demand on RT's Registration Under FARA 'Dangerous Precedent'
Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan has called the deadline to register under FARA by November 13 "cannibalistic" and "discriminatory," while the Russian Embassy in the US has stated that such actions against the broadcaster are aimed at eliminating a source of alternative information.
"We believe that this demand is not only against the law, which we plan to prove in court. This demand is discriminatory, it contradicts principles of democracy and freedom of speech, it bars us from equal competition with our foreign broadcasters working in the United States and not registered as foreign agents," Simonyan said, as quoted by RT.
Pressure on RT in US
RT, as well as Sputnik, have come under increased pressure in the US in the wake of the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election, a claim repeatedly denied by the Kremlin as "groundless and absurd."
While the Sputnik press service has stated the news agency had never used paid promotions on Twitter, RT has revealed how Twitter itself has been pushing it to spend big on its ads during the US election campaign, a proposal eventually turned down by the media outlet.
READ MORE: Full Disclosure: Read Twitter's Complete Ad Pitch to RT Ahead of 2016 Election
Most recently, the US Senate held a hearing with the US tech giants, during which the CEOs of Google and Twitter have testified that they found no violations by RT's ads on their platforms.
