Moscow warns US of retaliation against Congress ban on RT America

The Kremlin on Thursday expressed its disappointment at the withdrawal of Russian state-funded broadcaster Russia Today (RT)'s news credentials by the United States Congress and predicted that it will arouse an "emotional response" from Russian lawmakers.

"We would like to describe the decision by the American senators and congressmen to deprive RT of accreditation as extremely disappointing, wrong, and violating the freedom of the press principles," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agency Interfax as saying.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Executive Committee of the Congressional Radio and Television Correspondents' Galleries stripped RT America of its press credentials in the Capital Hill due to RT America's registration as a foreign agent in the country.

"Such hostile and undemocratic decisions cannot be left without a response... You don't have to be a prophet to predict an emotional response from our lawmakers regarding the U.S. media," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaker of Russia's State Duma lower parliament house Vyacheslav Volodin said that the Duma is mulling over "symmetrical measures" in the near future in response to the U.S. decision.

Washington has been accusing Russian media, including RT and Sputnik, of influencing public opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, while Moscow claims that they are being oppressed by U.S. authorities.

On Nov. 13, RT America said that it has registered as a foreign agent in the United States at the demand of the U.S. Department of Justice

Source: XINHUA