The state-funded Russian TV channel RT has disappeared from broadcasts in the Washington area.
The network vanished from cable channels at midnight Sunday when the station that ran the channel permanently closed. The northern Virginia station had already stopped broadcasting RT across the airwaves in February.
RT blames the changes on having to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department in November. News outlets with substantial backing from a foreign government are often required to register.
The station and the owner of the frequency on which RT was broadcast cite business decisions — not the U.S. government.
WNVC in Fairfax shut down because the frequency on which it was broadcast had been sold.
Justice Department spokesman Ian D. Prior declined to comment on RT's foreign-agent claims.
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