Russian Duma denies entry to VOA, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, adopted Wednesday a resolution banning entry to its premises for U.S. government-funded Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and its subsidiaries.

Only one deputy voted against the ban, while 413 deputies supported it, the voting broadcast live on the Duma website showed.

The ban becomes effective immediately, said Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

The Russian Justice Ministry blacklisted Tuesday VOA, RFE/RL and its seven projects as "foreign agents" in response to a similar U.S. move against Russia's state-owned RT news network.

Last week, Russian English-language news channel RT America was stripped of press credentials on Capitol Hill due to the company's "foreign agent" status.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill requiring foreign-funded media outlets in Russia to register as foreign agents, in retaliation to RT America's registration as a foreign agent in the United States at the demand of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Federation Council, Russia's upper parliament house, is also expected to adopt a separate resolution denying entry to media labeled as "foreign agents" at its next plenary session scheduled for Dec. 15, Russian media have said. Enditem