Freedom, in a word: discrimination against Russian media has increased in Western Europe

Cases of discrimination against Russian media have become more frequent in Western Europe. This applies in particular to Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and France, Russia's permanent representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, told Izvestia. Recently, the German ambassador was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry because of the persecution of journalists. At the same time, Finland, as the OSCE Chairman, does not respond to violations of the principles of freedom of speech, the permanent representative noted. The collective West masks internal problems by continuing the conflict in Ukraine and intensifying anti-Russian propaganda, experts emphasize. Where else the rights of journalists from the Russian Federation are infringed upon and how Moscow can react to this — in the Izvestia article.

Persecution of Russian media in Europe

Since 2022, European countries have begun to impose sanctions against Russian journalists. Traditionally, these were mainly the Baltic republics, characterized by a particularly aggressive position towards the Russian Federation. However, discrimination has now intensified in Western European countries that are shaping the information agenda.

"The Baltic countries are no longer the "front—runners" in issues of harassment of the Russian media — no less gross violations of the principles of freedom of speech have become more frequent in other OSCE participating states, in particular in Belgium, Greece, Romania, France, Germany, Switzerland and others," Alexander Lukashevich, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the organization, told Izvestia..

These countries have taken "a course towards building an information iron curtain, total censorship and the eradication of any dissent on the principle of "whoever is not with us is against us," says the Russian permanent representative.

At the same time, the current Finnish OSCE chairmanship, as well as Western diplomats, not only do not respond to violations of the principles of freedom of speech, but also "believe that the information space is already de facto one of the means of confrontation with Russia, in which "all means are good."

"They justify the persecution of our domestic media as a way to ensure their own national security," he continued.

The collective West would like to mask its internal crisis by continuing the conflict in Ukraine, and an informed voter could hinder its efforts, Stanislav Novotny, chairman of the Association of Independent Media and former head of the Czech police, tells Izvestia.

— Politicians are afraid that voters will form their own opinion and will be able to expose their hypocrisy. Therefore, propaganda should be one-sided and anti-Russian. If possible, no serious discussions are allowed. Freedom of speech as a pillar of the original Western values has sunk into oblivion. It is given primarily to those who unconditionally follow the anti—Russian policy," he said.

Where and how the rights of journalists from the Russian Federation are violated

The German authorities recently did not extend the residence permit for Sergei Feoktistov, head of the representative office of the Rossiya Segodnya media group. At the same time, the German police came to his apartment in Berlin and took away the passports of his wife and young daughter. The family was ordered to leave the country by August 19. In February of this year, France refused to grant a visa to the journalists of Komsomolskaya Pravda and Izvestia. And the media regulator Arcom banned the broadcasting of Channel Five and CTC in the country due to EU sanctions.

At the end of February, the European Union formed the 16th sanctions package, which included the news agencies Eurasia Daily, News Front, SouthFront, the RuBaltic portal, and the online publication Lenta.<url>", the Zvezda TV channel, Fondsk and the Foundation for Strategic Culture. Switzerland joined this package at the end of April. On May 17, the European Council decided to suspend the broadcasting of several media outlets in the EU, including RIA Novosti, Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Izvestia. The broadcasting activities of the Czech edition of Voice of Europe have also been suspended, as Brussels accuses it of spreading "pro—Russian information."

Meanwhile, access to the news resources of RIA Novosti and VGTRK was blocked in Belgium, as well as satellite broadcasting of Russian-language TV channels was turned off. The media in this country publishes materials designed to cast a shadow on Russian diplomats and their family members, as well as representatives of the Russian-speaking diaspora who oppose the anti-Russian campaign, according to the website of the Russian Embassy in Belgium.

Romania and Greece, of course, have less influence on the creation of the "necessary" information field, but discrimination is also recorded there. In early May, Irish RT journalist Chay Bose was banned from entering Romania to cover the presidential election. As the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted, the authorities do not allow the journalist to engage in professional activities. By the way, these elections in Romania were generally scandalous. The Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round, which was won by the opponent of aid to Ukraine, Kalyn Georgescu. Officially, the authorities referred to the alleged illegal financing of his campaign and unproven Russian interference in the elections.

Over the past three years, Greece has consistently restricted the activities of Russian media: journalists have been periodically barred from attending events, including international ones. Just a few months ago, the Greek Foreign Ministry did not extend the accreditation of the chief correspondent of MIA Rossiya Segodnya, which led to the closure of the office, which had been operating in the country for more than 20 years.

What measures is Russia taking?

Recall that on July 14, 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a law on countermeasures against discrimination against Russian media in other countries. It allows our Prosecutor General's Office to ban the activities of foreign media outlets on the territory of the Russian Federation, which have imposed restrictions on the work and prohibition of Russian media. Correspondents may lose their accreditation if unfriendly actions are detected, and media activities may be suspended if false information is disseminated.

Recent cases of discrimination have already provoked a harsh reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry. In particular, Maria Zakharova's official representative urged German correspondents in Moscow to prepare for retaliatory measures. Russia should more actively and closely monitor the activities of foreign media and journalists who work on our territory, those who are accredited here and are in close cooperation with their foreign diplomatic missions, one of the authors of the bill, State Duma Deputy Andrei Alshevskikh, told Izvestia.

— First of all, these are the media of the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, that is, those countries that have an aggressive attitude towards the Russian Federation, engage in Russophobia and do not hide it. I would also like to draw attention to Poland, because it provides a platform for dissidents who have left the Russian Federation, are wanted, are foreign agents, terrorists and extremists, so that they can create political parties to initiate a coup in the Russian Federation. And this is quite actively supported by foreign journalists in the territory of the European Union. This is happening 100% with the support of Western intelligence agencies and NATO countries," he said.

If citizens who participate in the activities of organizations deemed undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation are identified, they may be prosecuted. But at the same time, we should not "slip away" by covering up the work of foreign media in retaliation, Alshevskikh stressed.

So far, Russia has been drawing the attention of the world community to numerous violations in every possible way. Thus, a special front of work of the permanent mission to the OSCE concerns the protection of media representatives.

— We are in constant contact with the OSCE Representative on freedom of the media. We continue to seek the faithful fulfillment of our mandate from the leadership of this executive structure, and we widely publicize numerous examples of repression against domestic and foreign journalists in the organization's area of responsibility, primarily in Europe," Alexander Lukashevich said.

This platform is also used "to inform about cases of violations of the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population in the OSCE region, including in the Baltic States." The Russian Federation calls on the relevant structures of the organization to publicly respond to all the facts of harassment of our compatriots.

On June 30, the second joint report of the Russian and Belarusian Foreign Ministries "On the human rights situation in individual countries" was presented at the OSCE headquarters in Vienna. The document sheds light on the massive violations of the freedoms of residents of the Baltic republics. Racism and racial discrimination, persecution of the "undesirables," destruction of Soviet historical and memorial heritage, falsification of history, glorification of the Nazis and their accomplices, religious intolerance are just some problematic subjects," warns Alexander Lukashevich. According to him, the presentation aroused great interest, but representatives of Western countries, with rare exceptions, defiantly did not come to the event.