MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US Congress proposals to register the RT TV channel as a foreign agent once again shows that it is usual for the United States to view freedom of speech only as freedom of the US media, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Dmitry Novikov told Sputnik on Friday.
"For those that represent Washington and the [US] State Department it has long ago become a [standard] practice to understand the freedom of speech only as the freedom of speech of the US pro-governmental media, [freedom] to spread any information across the globe. But if we are talking about allowing to represent another point of view on the territory of the United States, no one mentions the freedom of speech," Novikov said, adding that such situations are usually stigmatized as attempts to "destabilize the situation in the United States."
He explained that the proposal regarding RT is of the same nature.
In June, Cicilline, alongside Congressman Matthew Gaetz introduced legislation called The Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act. The proposed bill specifically targets such media outlets as RT, obliging them to register as foreign agents and report their activity to the US Department of Justice.