The European Union’s next sanctions against Russia will include restrictions on several popular pro-Kremlin media outlets. The planned measure will target the news agency TASS, the online publication Lenta.ru, the Russian Defense Ministry’s TV channel Zvezda, the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, the pro-Kremlin Crimean website NewsFront, and other propaganda media outlets, according to investigative journalists at RFE/RL’s Sistema project who obtained a draft of the E.U. decision.
The sanctions reportedly entail a complete ban on broadcasting, distributing, and promoting the content of these outlets. E.U. Internet providers will be required to block access to these resources.
RT and Sputnik are already under sanctions in Europe. Several other pro-Kremlin media outlets are banned in specific E.U. countries, mainly in the Baltic states.
A day earlier, on January 28, Bloomberg reported that the next E.U. sanctions package could cut more Russian banks off from the SWIFT banking system and impose new restrictions on more than 70 “shadow fleet” tankers involved in shipping Russian oil.