The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced the blocking of 15 media outlets of the European Union member states in response to the blocking of eight Russian publications. The Russian ministry did not specify which media outlets these were.
In February 2025, the EU Council approved the 16th package of sanctions, which included restrictions against Eurasia Daily, Fondsk, Lenta, News Front, Rubaltic, South Front, Strategic Culture Foundation and Krasnaya Zvezda.
“Official Brussels and the capitals of the EU member states have been repeatedly warned that bans and unjustified restrictions directed against Russian media, as well as other forms of politically motivated repression, will not go without a proper response from the Russian side,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
In addition to Russian publications, the EU has added 48 people to the sanctions list, including the husband of TV presenter and media manager Tina Kandelaki Vasily Brovko, comedian Mikhail Galustyan, journalist Ruslan Ostashko and others. The sanctions also affected 74 ships from Russia’s “shadow fleet”, 13 banks, 53 companies helping the Russian army.
In addition, a ban was imposed on shipments to Russia of Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox gaming consoles, which the Kremlin reportedly uses to control drones.