Some Forces In Germany Creating Hostility Atmosphere Around Sputnik, RT - Lavrov

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) Some German forces are creating an atmosphere of "hostility and toxicity" around Russian media outlets, particularly RT and Sputnik, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, noting that it was impossible to imagine such moves toward German media working in Russia.

"There are some forces that are fueling the atmosphere of hostility and 'toxicity' around Russian media outlets ... Representatives of the local political establishment and journalist industry alliances have had a role in a campaign to discredit Sputnik and RT-Deutsch ... Some of them even call for boycotting our media outlets and banning them from cable networks ... You cannot imagine any similar [actions] toward German media outlets in our country," Lavrov said in a written interview with the German Rheinische Post newspaper, published on Thursday.

The top diplomat noted that the authorities should be guided by the principles of freedom of press and nondiscriminatory access to information for the citizens, which had been endorsed by various international organizations, in their policies toward media outlets.

Lavrov added that Russian media outlets were working in Germany in line with the country's law and high journalist standards.

"The sources of financing Sputnik and RT, including by the Russian government, are directly stated on official pages of these outlets.

It is a normal practice and there are no 'sensations' to be searched for here. For example, the government of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and other countries also fund various media outlets," Lavrov pointed out.

Russian media outlets, particularly Sputnik and RT, have recently faced pressure in western countries. For example, in Germany, the Federation of Journalists called on national regulators supervising media activities to not issue a license for RT Deutsch, claiming that the broadcaster was a "tool for Kremlin propaganda."

Moreover, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, released a report that labeled RT Deutsch and Sputnik as propaganda outlets that it said posed as independent media.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has noted that German media had intensified attempts to discredit Russian media outlets, including RT Deutsch and Sputnik Deutschland, pledging to hand over this information to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

RT and Sputnik chief editor Margarita Simonyan, in her turn, has said that the news outlets never made a secret of being financed by the Russian government.