'Foreign Agent' Day: Simonyan Proposes Moving Press Freedom Day to November 10

Amid recent growing pressure on Russian news media outlets in the US, RT and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan suggested to name November 10 as the date of RT America’s registration as a foreign agent in the US.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, Simonyan said that RT America had registered as a foreign agent in the United States to comply with the US Department of Justice's demand. In this case, she offered to change the date of the World Press Freedom Day from May 3 to November 10, the date of RT America’s registration as a foreign agent in the United States.

"I suggest changing the date of the World Press Freedom Day to November 10," Simonyan wrote on Twitter.

Предлагаю перенести всемирный день свободы прессы на 10 ноября.https://t.co/gfJEKb4l4J

— Маргарита Симоньян (@M_Simonyan) 14 ноября 2017 г.

READ MORE: Russian State Duma to Draft Bill Including Media in Foreign Agents Law

Russian media, especially RT, has been pressured by US authorities over the alleged interference in the US elections. According to the US intelligence community, the broadcaster was involved in the Kremlin's alleged attempts to influence the 2016 election in the United States. In turn, Russia has repeatedly denied the claims over lack of sufficient evidence.

Most recently, the RT broadcaster was requested to register under Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). However, other foreign media outlets, such as the UK BBC broadcaster, Chinese CCTV broadcaster, French France 24 broadcaster or German Deutsche Welle radio station have not been registered as foreign agents. Simonyan said Monday that the broadcaster was choosing between a criminal case and registration, congratulating "the American freedom of speech and all those who still believe in it."