EU Says Russian 'Foreign Agent' Law Stifles Independent Media

The European Union has called on Russia to repeal its controversial "foreign agent" law, which has been used to target a growing number of Russian-language media outlets, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 

The call, made on May 17 by a spokesman for EU foreign-affairs chief Josep Borrell, comes as Russian authorities both expand their targets of the 9-year-old law, as well their enforcement of it.  Last week, court bailiffs moved to begin seizing property from RFE/RL's Moscow bureau, requesting a list of equipment that potentially could be seized. Bailiffs also obtained a court order freezing the Moscow bank accounts used by RFE/RL. Days earlier, Russia's media regulator said it was adding VTimes, an online news site founded by ex-staffers of the newspaper Vedomosti, to its "foreign agent" list. The regulator had added another online news site, Meduza, previously.