RT, the Russian media agency with offices in the US, has finally agreed to register as a foreign agent.
As per the Washington Post, the company's Thursday announcement comes after months of back-and-forth between the Moscow-based news agency and the Department of Justice, who believe RT is Kremlin propaganda.
“The American Justice Department has left us with no choice,’’ Margarita Simonyan, the agency's editor-in-chief, wrote in a statement. “Our lawyers say that if we don’t register as a foreign agent, the director of our company in America could be arrested, and the accounts of the company could be seized. In short, in this situation the company would not be able to work. Between those consequences and registering as a foreign agent, we are forced to choose registration.’’
RT refutes the DOJ's claims that they are agents for the Russian government, though the Post notes that American "intelligence agencies have concluded that the network and website push relentlessly anti-American propaganda at the behest of the Russian government.
