RT said late Monday that the company that supplies all the services for its RT America channel was told by the Department of Justice in a letter that it is obligated to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an act aimed at lobbyists and lawyers representing foreign political interests. Commenting on the news, Sputnik and RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said that “freedom of speech is turning in its grave.”

The bill was submitted in June to the House of Representatives of the US Congress to amend requirements for registration of foreign agents under the FARA.
The United States Department of Justice has requested Moscow-based Russian media channel RT America to register as a foreign lobbying firm in the United States.