On 25 June 2024, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the websites of 81 media outlets from 25 European countries would be blocked in Russia, in retaliation for a decision made by the European Council on May 17, which blocked access within the EU to four websites accused of spreading Russian pro-war propaganda. These were the pages of RIA Novosti, Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russian state-owned outlets), Izvestiya (state-controlled) and Voice of Europe, an outlet which the Czech government accused of being run by a Ukrainian pro-Russian oligarch. Russia’s MFA denounced the European Union’s move as “politically motivated” and said it was “taking mirror and proportionate countermeasures”.
The MFA also accused the blocked European outlets of “disseminating false information” about the war in Ukraine, which it called a “special military operation”.
The list of European outlets blocked in Russia published by the MFA includes newspapers such as the German newspaper Die Zeit and magazine Der Spiegel, the Italian newspapers La Stampa and La Repubblica, the Portuguese daily Público, the French newspapers Le Monde and Libération, and the Dutch magazine Algemeen Dagblad.
The websites of several television channels were also banned, such as Italy’s RAI, France’s LCI, Ireland’s RTE, Portugal’s RTP Internacional, the Netherlands’ Nos and Austria’s ORF, in addition to the radio stations Radio France and Sveriges Radio. As for news agencies, the websites of Agence France-Presse (AFP), Agencia EFE and Agence Europe were banned.
The full list of blocked news websites is as follows:
Austria
1. State television and radio company “ORF” (orf.at);
2. Media holding “Osterreich” (oe24.at);
Belgium
3. Magazine “Le Vif” (levif.be);
4. Knack magazine (knack.be);
Bulgaria
5. News information portal “Mediapool” (Mediapool.bg);
6. Newspaper “24 Hours” (24chasa.bg);
Hungary
7. Internet information portal 444.hu;
Germany
8. Magazine “Der Spiegel” (spiegel.de);
9. Newspaper “Die Zeit” (zeit.de);
10. Newspaper “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (faz.net);
Greece
11. JSC “Greek Radio and Television” EPT (ert.gr, ertnews.gr);
12. Media holding “Skai” (skai.gr);
13. TV channel “Mega” (Megatv.com);
14. Newspaper “Proto Thema” (protothema.gr);
Denmark
15. Daily newspaper “Berlingske” (berlingske.dk);
16. Publication “Information” (information.dk);
Ireland
17. National broadcaster RTE (rte.ie);
18. The Irish Times newspaper (irishtimes.com);
19. The Irish Independent newspaper (independent.ie);
Spain
20. Newspaper “El Mundo” (elmundo.es);
21. Newspaper “El Pais” (elpais.com);
22. Information agency “EFE” (efe.com);
23. State television of Spain “Televisión Española” (rtve.es);
Italy
24. National broadcasting channel “LA7” (la7.it);
25. Newspaper “La Stampa” (lastampa.it);
26. Newspaper “La Repubblica” (repubblica.it);
27. TV company “RAI” (rai.it, rainews.it);
Cyprus
28. Newspaper “Politis” (politis.com.cy);
29. Electronic information portal “Cyprus Times” (cyprustimes.com);
30. Newspaper “Cyprus Mail” (cyprus-mail.com);
Latvia
31. TV channel “Latvian Television” and Latvian Radio 4 (lsm.lv);
32. Internet portal apollo.lv;
33. Internet TV channel tvnet.lv;
34. Publication “Diena” (diena.lv);
Lithuania
35. Internet portal “LRT” (lrt.lt);
36. Internet portal “15min.lt” (15min.lt);
37. Internet portal “lrytas.lt” (lrytas.lt);
Malta
38. Central state television channel “Television Malta” TVM (tvmnews.mt);
39. Newspaper “Times of Malta” (timesofmalta.com);
40. The Malta Independent newspaper (independent.com.mt);
41. Newspaper “Malta Today” (maltatoday.com.mt);
Netherlands
42. Broadcasting company “Nos” (nos.nl);
43. Newspaper “Nrc” (nrc.nl);
44. Newspaper “Algemeen Dagblad” (ad.nl);
Poland
45. TV channel “Belsat” (belsat.eu, belsat.pl);
46. Magazine “New Poland” (novayapolsha.eu, novayapolsha.com, novayapolsha.pl);
Portugal
47. TV channel “RTP International” (rtp.pt);
48. Newspaper “Publico” (publico.pt);
49. Newspaper “Expresso” (expresso.pt);
50. Information and analytical project “Observador” (observador.pt);
Romania
51. TV channel “Pro TV International” (stirileprotv.ro, protv.ro);
52. TV channel “Digi24” (digi24.ro);
53. TV channel “B1TV” (b1tv.ro);
Slovakia
54. Newspaper “SME” (sme.sk);
55. Online outlet “Dennik N” (dennikn.sk);
Slovenia
56. Internet publication “Nova24” (Nova24.si, Nova24tv.si);
57. Internet publication “Demokracija” (Demokracija.si, Demokracija.eu);
Finland
58. Newspaper “Ilta-Sanomat” (is.fi);
59. Newspaper “Iltalehti” (iltalehti.fi);
60. Newspaper “Helsingin Sanomat” (hs.fi);
61. TV and radio company “Yleisradio” (yle.fi);
France
62. TV channel “LCI” (tf1info.fr);
63. Le Monde newspaper (lemonde.fr);
64. La Croix newspaper (la-croix.com);
65. Newspaper “Liberation” (liberation.fr);
66. Lexpress magazine (lexpress.fr);
67. Radio company “Radio France” (radiofrance.fr);
68. Information agency “Agence France-Presse” (afp.com, afpforum.com);
69. TV channel “CNews” (cnews.fr);
70. TV company “Arte” (arte.tv);
Czech
71. TV channel “Ceska Televize” (ceskatelevize.cz);
72. Internet portal “Seznam Zpravy” (seznamzpravy.cz);
Sweden
73. Television and radio company “SVT” (svt.se);
74. Radio company Sveriges Radio (sverigesradio.se);
Estonia
75. News portal propastop.org;
76. National Broadcasting Corporation “ERR” (err.ee);
77. Media outlet “Delfi” (delfi.ee);
Non-national European media
78. Agence Europe (agenceurope.eu);
79. Politico (www.politico.eu, www.politico.com);
80. Satellite package “Svoboda Satellite Package” (rsf.org);
81. Internet publication “Euobserver” (Euobserver.com).