War has practically been declared on the Russian media in the West, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“The war has practically already been declared,” Lavrov said when asked how he views the situation of “undeclared war” against the Russian media in the West.
As an example, he cited the situation with Britain’s refusal to issue a visa to a Russian journalist, as well as the most recent case: the refusal of accreditation for memorial events in connection with the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to RIA Novosti correspondents in the United States.
The invitation to cover the ceremony, which traditionally takes place at the site of the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, came on August 20. RIA Novosti journalists responded to the invitation within an hour. On Thursday, a response came from the organizers stating that the request could not be granted “due to the overwhelming number of applications and lack of space” and “anyone who is not accredited will not be allowed to attend the ceremony.”
Director General of MIA “Russia Segodnya” Dmitry Kiselev called the denial of accreditation of RIA Novosti correspondents as a consistent and selective harassment of the press. The UJR said that they more and more often observe that they are trying to restrict Russian journalists in their rights for any fictitious reason.