US journalist urges Trump to drop sanctions against RT

The former head of RT America has called on US president Donald Trump to lift the “unprecedented” sanctions on Russian media which were introduced under his predecessor Joe Biden.

American journalist Ben Swann previously headed all of RT’s operations in the US, being in charge of the broadcaster’s office in the country and all of the shows produced by RT America. 

Last September, the outgoing US administration announced a new raft of curbs targeting several Russian outlets, blaming them for trying to covertly “undermine democracy” and interfere in US elections. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused RT of “functioning as a de facto arm of [Russian] intelligence.”

Following Washington’s move, US tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, banned several Russian news networks.

Moscow has condemned the restrictions, saying that Washington had “declared war on freedom of speech.” As for claims of election meddling, they are a mere “witch-hunt” and “spy-o-mania” intended to manipulate public opinion and bar Americans from any inconvenient information, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakrahova insisted at the time.

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