The London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) has issued a report titled Holding the Line: Auditing the EU’s ban of Russian state media 3 years on.

“In March 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission (EC) adopted nine sanction packages against entities and individuals to de-escalate the Kremlin’s hybrid threat, as well as address Russian military aggression and human rights violations. New and updated sanctions packages are released on a regular basis,” says the report.

“Blocking access to content published by the sites of Kremlin-affiliated state media is central to these measures, alongside restricting the dissemination of their content on- and offline. As a result, EU Member States are expected to mandate internet service providers (ISPs) operating in their jurisdiction to block access to the sanctioned domains nationwide. In parallel, the EU’s Digital Services Act, which came into force in February 2024, requires very large online platforms (VLOPs) such as X and Facebook to restrict the dissemination of sanctioned state media on their platforms within the EU,” ISD adds.

“Three years on from the initial restrictions, sanctioned outlets are largely still active and accessible across Member States. As documented by ISD during the German federal (February 2025) and Polish presidential (May 2025) elections, these actors played a key role in spreading harmful propaganda and polarising audiences. This includes the denial of Russian involvement in war crimes in Ukraine, as well as false claims about Ukrainian refugees’ ideology and behaviour,” says ISD.

“This Investigation builds on ISD’s previous analyses of the effectiveness of EU sanctions against Russian state media, including RT’s (formerly Russia Today) circumvention of sanctions using mirror sites and aggregator domains covertly laundering content through fake news websites. Our most recent analysis showed how RT has been sidestepping sanctions in Italy by broadcasting its documentaries in public spaces with support from pro-Kremlin journalists and Russian officials,” adds ISD.

The report says that the enforcement of sanctions against Russian state media by the three largest ISPs in six member states, less than a quarter of attempts access the content were effectively blocked. ISPs in Germany and France were the most compliant, blocking between 43 to 57 and 24 to 48 per cent of domains respectively.

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Categories: Blogs, Broadcast, Inside Satellite

Tags: EU, Media, russia