Russia is preparing a crackdown on foreign media groups in response to US measures against RT, the Kremlin’s foreign-language television channel.

俄罗斯准备打压外国媒体集团，以回应美国对俄罗斯政府的外语电视频道RT采取的措施。

Hastily drafted amendments passed a first reading in the lower house of parliament on Tuesday that would apply Russia’s law on “foreign agents” to the media. The bill, which could come into law as early as this week, would give Russia’s justice ministry the power to ban any media outlet that receives funding from abroad.

周二，一项仓促起草的修正案在俄国家杜马(即下议院)通过了一读，该修正案将把俄关于“外国代理人”的法律适用于媒体。该修正案最早可能会在本周成为法律，它将赋予俄司法部门查禁一切收受海外资金的媒体的权力。

The move is a response to a decision by the Department of Justice to make RT register as a foreign agent in the US. Russia’s response, however, goes much further as the media becomes increasingly central to the stand-off between Moscow and Washington over alleged Kremlin meddling in the campaign that led to Donald Trump being elected US president.

此举是为了回应美国司法部(Department of Justice)把RT登记为在美的外国代理人的决定。不过，俄方的回应可谓又向前大大迈进了一步。目前，媒体日益在莫斯科与华盛顿的对峙当中占据核心位置，这场对峙围绕的是克里姆林宫涉嫌干预美国选战、导致唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)当选美国总统一事。

Russia has yet to specify which media it intends to sanction under the law, though some lawmakers have floated CNN, the broadcaster owned by Time Warner, Germany’s Deutsche Welle, and Radio Free Europe, the US-funded Cold War-era network.

俄罗斯尚未言明它打算依据该法惩治哪些媒体，尽管有些议员提到了时代华纳(Time Warner)旗下的广播电视公司CNN、德国的德国之声(Deutsche Welle)以及美国资助的冷战时代电台自由欧洲电台(Radio Free Europe)。

Media caught up in the law face a ban if they do not mark themselves as “foreign agents” — a Soviet-era term synonymous with spying in Russia — in an as yet unspecified way.

落入该法适用范围的媒体，若不把自己标记为“外国代理人”(在俄罗斯，这个苏联时代的词与间谍活动基本同义)，将面临被查禁的后果。具体的标记方式尚未言明。

Valentina Matvienko, speaker of the upper house, said the amendment was a necessary reaction to the “American government propaganda machine that has begun to persecute Russian media”, according to the Interfax news agency.

据俄罗斯国际文传电讯社(Interfax)报道，俄罗斯上议院议长瓦莲京娜•马特维延科(Valentina Matvienko)表示，该修正案是对“已开始迫害俄罗斯媒体的美国政府宣传机器”做出的必要反应。

RT said last month that the DoJ was forcing it to register as a foreign agent after a US intelligence report said that the channel and sister site Sputnik were part of a Kremlin “influence campaign” aimed at boosting Mr Trump’s campaign at the expense of his opponent Hillary Clinton. Twitter banned RT and Sputnik from advertising on the site as a result.

RT上月表示美国司法部正强迫其登记为外国代理人，此前美国情报部门一份报告称，该电视频道及其姐妹网站Sputnik参与了克里姆林宫提振特朗普选情、打压其对手希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)的“影响活动”。Twitter因此禁止RT和Sputnik在其网站上打广告。