MOSCOW, May 20 (RAPSI) -  State Duma member Yevgeny Fyodorov has proposed banning owners of Russian media from opening foreign bank accounts, a rule currently applied to government officials. He made the proposal at a State Duma meeting on Tuesday.

Fyodorov also suggested qualifying a media outlet as foreign if it is owned by foreigners. Currently, Russian government officials are not allowed to have bank accounts outside Russia. Fyodorov stressed that “the influence of the media on our life is perhaps bigger than that of most government officials.”

Fyodorov also noted that events like the color revolutions are to a large extent the result of media propaganda. The color revolutions were nonviolent changes of a political regime. In 2003, the Revolution of Roses in Georgia toppled president Eduard Shevardnadze. Later in 2004, Mikheil Saakashvili was elected the new president. The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine ended with Viktor Yushchenko taking office.

Fyodorov believes the media with foreign ownership – some of which are based in Russia – are largely influenced by the West and basically support the interests of western countries.