# The EU bans RT; Simonyan remains editor-in-chief of the banned wartime service

Date: 2022

## The fact

On 2 March 2022 the Council of the EU banned RT and Sputnik in the Union over their role in the propaganda supporting the invasion of Ukraine. [Margarita Simonyan](/people/margarita-simonyan) remained editor-in-chief of RT.

## Context

She has edited RT since 2005. The invasion began on 24 February. The Council named the outlets’ propaganda role. She did not write the Council decision. She did edit the service. Circumvention via other platforms is neighbouring. Audience-size Contribution figures are not invented. [Sergey Lavrov](/people/sergey-lavrov) owns the MFA line.

Keep The EU bans RT; Simonyan remains editor-in-chief of the banned wartime service on 2022-03-02 separate from neighbouring RT-ban and Bucha-framing instruments. Official: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/03/02/eu-imposes-sanctions-on-state-owned-outlets-rt-russia-today-and-sputnik-s-broadcasting-in-the-eu/. Independent: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-bans-rt-sputnik-over-ukraine-disinformation-2022-03-02/.

The editor-in-chief of RT can set an export propaganda line. She does not write MFA talking points as minister and does not fire missiles.

## Evidence and sources

Council of the EU carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is ukraine-war information harm: a completed ban of the wartime export service she edits. It is not [media-freedom](/drivers/media-freedom) as a Soviet primary home.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 2 March 2022 EU ban of RT, the service Simonyan edits, independently recorded the same day.

Not established: a unique later audience-size coefficient, or that the ban is a criminal conviction in a Russian court.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Council banned the outlet. Reuters did not write the regulation.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies The EU bans RT; Simonyan remains editor-in-chief of the banned wartime service, not a later speech about The EU bans RT; Simonyan remains editor-in-chief of the banned wartime service.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. The EU bans RT; Simonyan remains editor-in-chief of the banned wartime service on 2022-03-02 is not a licence to treat every later Council of the EU communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average The EU bans RT; Simonyan remains editor-in-chief of the banned wartime service into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to She edits RT. The Council banned the outlet. Reuters did not write the regulation. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Margarita Simonyan: https://factrail.ai/people/margarita-simonyan

## Drivers

- Ukraine war (Crimea–Donbas–2022+): https://factrail.ai/drivers/ukraine-war

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-bans-rt-sputnik-over-ukraine-disinformation-2022-03-02/
- https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/03/02/eu-imposes-sanctions-on-state-owned-outlets-rt-russia-today-and-sputnik-s-broadcasting-in-the-eu/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-simonyan-eu-rt-ban-2022-03-02