EU General Court Maintains RT France's Listing Under Russian Sanctions Regime

The EU General Court in a July 27 judgment rejected RT France's bid to annul sanctions levied against it in March. The restrictions bar EU operators from broadcasting and facilitating the broadcast of RT France and suspend any broadcasting license or arrangement with the media outlet. The court ruled that the European Council didn't violate the law in finding that RT France was controlled by the Russian government and issues statements backing the war in Ukraine. Further, the court dismissed the media company's challenge to the council's reasons for imposing the sanctions, the fairness of the procedures used to make the listing and the arguments that the sanctions were a disproportionate restriction on RT France's right to freedom of expression.

"[L]arge-scale media support for the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine, provided during programmes broadcast on television and on the internet by a media outlet wholly funded by the Russian State, may be covered by restrictive measures consisting in prohibiting the broadcasting of propaganda activities in support of such aggression," the court said in a news release. "The General Court adds that the nature and extent of the temporary prohibition at issue comply with the essential content of the freedom of expression and do not call that particular freedom into question."