Russia to ban US media from accessing State Duma

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW (AA) - Moscow will ban the U.S. media from accessing Russia’s State Duma -- lower house of parliament - starting from next week, a committee head said Friday.

Russian State Duma Committee head Olga Savastyanova told reporters that the decision was taken in response to the recent U.S. Congress move to strip the accreditation of Russia's English-language news channel RT America.

RT America's accreditation was stripped last week citing the company's "foreign agent" status, and the channel was informed in writing on Wednesday, RT said.

According to the letter sent by the U.S. Congress, "The Executive Committee of the Congress Radio & Television Correspondents’ Galleries exercised its authority, as garnered by the rules of House of Senate, to withdraw the news credentials of the RT Network by unanimous vote on November 21, 2017."

On Nov. 13, the U.S. Department of Justice demanded RT to register as a foreign agent for playing a key role in what it termed an "influence campaign" aimed at undercutting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during last year's White House race.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Nov. 25 signed a law to introduce a "foreign agent" status for foreign media outlets.