The U.S. government has stepped up its efforts to ban and block Russian media networks like Sputnik and RT across the world. Recently, U.S. officials have even spoken to the Indian government, asking them to join these actions against what they call “Russian disinformation.” They want India to take away the accreditations of these media organizations and label their journalists as part of “foreign missions.” This move would make it harder for Russian media to operate in India, just like in the U.S. and Europe.
But India hasn’t said much on the matter. Government officials have commented that the debate over sanctions doesn’t really apply to India. Meanwhile, a former Indian diplomat pointed out that banning media organizations shows “double standards” by Western countries, who often claim to support free speech.
On September 13, 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced more sanctions against RT. He argued that RT, which has offices around the world—including in India—is basically working for Russian intelligence. In response, RT and the Russian government denied these accusations, with one RT editor calling the U.S. government paranoid and afraid of voices that challenge their views.
Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian Ambassador to Russia, weighed in, saying that the U.S. is damaging its own values by trying to censor Russian media. He pointed out that while the U.S. claims to support freedom of speech, actions like these make them look hypocritical, especially to countries in the Global South, like India, which have been under Western pressure for years. According to him, India is unlikely to follow the U.S.’s lead on this matter.
The U.S. has been sanctioning Russian media ever since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022. More recently, they imposed sanctions on individuals and entities connected to Russian media, accusing them of spreading disinformation and raising funds for Russia’s military. This includes well-known outlets like RIA Novosti, RT, and Sputnik.
Despite the pressure, the Indian government has so far chosen to stay quiet. One official said that since India doesn’t follow sanctions that aren’t approved by the United Nations, this isn’t a big concern for the country.
The question now is: Will India cave to U.S. pressure or stand its ground?
The discussion around sanctions raises some deep questions. Is banning media outlets really the solution? How can one nation dictate what the world should read, watch, or believe? It’s a tricky subject. Sanctions on goods like oil or weapons are one thing, but controlling the media is a whole different challenge.
We’ve seen this before. In the old Soviet Union, the state controlled all the media, deciding which facts and ideas were acceptable. Yet, people still found ways to debate and share their own opinions, even when the government tried to control the narrative.
Today, the world is changing, and many countries are tired of being told what to think. Just last week, at the BRICS Media Summit in Moscow, there was a lot of talk about getting news directly from one another instead of through the usual Western filters. Media from countries like India, Russia, and new BRICS members are forming partnerships to share stories without interference.
In the end, it seems that trying to control global media is like trying to control people’s thoughts—and that has never really worked out in the past. As one famous line from The Lord of the Rings warns: trying to control everything can only “bind them in darkness.”
