Another link in the “coordinated campaign of the ‘collective West’ for the total suppression of every source of alternative information in its information field”, the official spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova describes the “brazen deportation” from the Republic of Cyprus of the correspondent of “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” Alexander Gasyuk, which she claims was preceded by “an operation organized by secret services to exert psychological pressure on the Russian journalist and his family, culminating in his brutal beating and injury”.
Earlier, Russian diplomatic sources had told TASS that Aleksandr Gasyuk returned “safely to Russia this morning” and announced that Moscow “will send all relevant international organizations information on the unacceptable treatment of journalists, which is gaining ground in NATO countries”.
Referring to various countries, Zakharova said that “it was not enough for the neoliberal Western pseudo-democracies to impose numerous bans on Russian TV and radio networks, block internet portals, cut off access for Russian citizens to social and economic electronic services, close the offices of Russian media correspondents and impose hundreds of sanctions against representatives of the journalistic community.”
“The largest US-based Internet monopolies have joined the information war unleashed by the West and have begun to spread to block unwanted users and information sources, as well as restrict access to them at their discretion or at the behest of Washington,” she said.
Zakharova in a commentary published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website, assessed that “repression continues unabated to be applied to the remaining pockets of disturbing truth, indeed the most heinous and brutal methods are used. The suppression of dissent is carried out under the false pretext of concern for information security and the fight against ‘disinformation’.”
The official spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry listed “many incidents in the countries of the ‘advanced democracies’ involving serious violations of their international obligations to protect the rights of journalists and ensure media pluralism”, referring to the suspension of the licenses of a number of Russian media outlets (RT Balkan, Oriental Review, Tsargrad, Catechon, and New Eastern Outlook) in EU countries and the expansion of the list of “undesirable journalists, military correspondents and heads of Russian media”.
According to the senior Russian diplomat, “This sad situation is encouraged by the graveyard silence of the relevant international structures, whose main task was precisely to prevent this kind of arbitrary behavior towards the media and to ensure equal access to information. Some of these structures have finally gone beyond the point of no return and have discredited their institutions through their bias and willingness to serve the interests of a small group of countries at the expense of their mandate.”
“With their arrogant and duplicitous policies, based on hypocritical interpretations of the fundamental principles of democracy, the power circles of the neoliberal West are seriously damaging their own reputation and undermining public confidence in their institutions. By attempting to silence opposing voices in every possible way, ignoring the principles of the information society and the natural need of people to form an objective picture of what is happening, and replacing arguments with violence, they only signify their weakness in the face of the truth,” concludes the comment of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
