Maria Zakharova, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Photo: Alexander Demyanchuk/TASS.
The media’s code of honour is being put to the test today: independent Western journalism is degenerating before our eyes. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, called it monstrous that the Western press is persecuting its Russian colleagues.
The diplomat also spoke about calls by Ukrainian authorities to the United States to allow attacks with American weapons against Russia.
Zakharova held her briefing today at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
“We simply see a huge void where there should be statements, requests, declarations when it comes to murders and terrorist attacks against Russian journalists. And not only Russian journalists who died at the hands of the Kiev regime,” Zakharova said.
In his opinion, the duty of a true journalist is to convey to the public, in a disinterested and honest manner, a reliable picture of what is happening, to be at the epicentre of crisis situations and conflicts, sometimes putting his own life at risk. “It is a dangerous, difficult and noble profession,” the diplomat emphasised.
Journalists are killed, tortured and their lives mutilated, but in response there is no sympathetic response from the United States or the European Union, or even from specialized interstate organizations. “In the West, where genuine independent journalism is literally degenerating before our eyes and turning into an obedient instrument of aggressive propaganda, the above concepts are turning into empty phrases,” Zakharova believes.
International journalism, he recalled, has always been at the forefront of sincere solidarity: “What is left of that now?”
It has become a practical norm when journalists from Western publications actively participate in the persecution of their Russian colleagues. Germany is the most obvious example in this regard. “This is monstrous!” – said Maria Zakharova at the briefing.
She is sure that the Germans had no intention of segregating Russian journalists in any way. They are interested in reading different points of view in order to understand a particular situation for themselves. But then the Union of German Journalists came into being and decided everything for everyone.
– Relegated to oblivion and, I would say, concepts such as mutual assistance were simply relegated. Now solidarity is when it comes out from under the stick. But solidarity is something that comes from the soul, from the conscience, from the code of honor,” the spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry did not hide her indignation.
WARNING TO THE WEST
We have collected other important statements from Maria Zakharova’s briefing.
On the situation at the front: “The kyiv regime and its Western curators continue to rage in their attempt to inflict on us, as they put it, the notorious strategic defeat.
Against the backdrop of a constantly worsening situation for the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the front, the Kiev regime began to promote a certain “new plan”. They continue to beg the West to lift restrictions on attacks on the territory of our country with long-range weapons.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Umerov has handed over to American officials a list of targets identified on Russian territory.
What does this activity of the Zelensky regime indicate? That they are completely out of touch with reality. They say that they have no compassion for anyone on the territory of Ukraine, neither for its citizens nor for those whom they forcibly dragged into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine: “Western politicians are losing their sense of reality and are not thinking at all about the risks of a new dangerous escalation of the conflict, even in the context of their own interests.
We would like to warn similarly irresponsible politicians in the EU, NATO and overseas countries that in case the Kiev regime takes corresponding aggressive measures, Russia’s response will follow immediately. You have already seen a lot of this in recent days. And the responses will be extremely painful.
On kyiv’s actions in relation to the UOC: “The West not only continues to supply weapons to the Kiev regime, but also stubbornly remains silent when crimes are committed in the humanitarian sphere against something sacred to the West: democracy, human rights, pluralism of opinions. – it becomes obvious.
No one in the West is saying anything about the adoption by the Zelensky regime of a crazy law aimed at destroying the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but which in fact is aimed at canonical Orthodoxy in general and, in principle, at Christianity on the territory of Ukraine.
Junta-controlled media outlets replicate the ideology of Ukrainian Nazis, citing false data about the alleged support of the majority of Ukrainians for the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “Everything that Zelensky and his regime say about the UOC is a blatant lie, it is simply blasphemy, an attempt to pass off wishful thinking.”
On the distortion of India’s position on Ukraine: “What is the essence of the position of India and its leaders? It seems to me that this is something that Zelensky cannot understand.
The essence of this position is that the decision on the place and time of the start of peace negotiations is the prerogative of the two warring parties. I fully understand why Zelensky distorts the results of the negotiations and meetings that took place in kyiv. Because they needed to give them away for reading.
We sincerely appreciate the Indian Prime Minister’s desire to contribute to a possible political and diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis. And we will always be grateful to the Indian leadership for its balanced position on Ukraine.”
On provocations against Transnistria: “Let us remember that, in addition to the Russian peacekeepers stationed in Transnistria, more than 220 thousand Russian citizens live there. Any provocation will be regarded, according to international law, as an attack on the Russian Federation.”
On Helsinki’s outrageous demands: “The head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Finland allows himself to demand from Russia, from our border service, certain guarantees of non-admission, and in fact of filtering, of persons who are in the territory of Helsinki, the Russian Federation legally and wish to leave the territory of our country in any direction of their own choice.
What to do about the fact that in this case it is Finland that is violating every conceivable principle for guaranteeing freedom of movement of people?
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