Poland’s sanctions against Russian journalists are a demonstration of the rejection of the principles of freedom and pluralism of the media. Such a statement on Tuesday, March 16, was made by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
“We consider this decision as another example of the violation by the Polish authorities of the Schengen legislation of the European Union for settling accounts with unwanted Russian citizens. In essence, we are talking about the purposeful instrumentalization of Warsaw’s membership in the EU in order to please its local anti-Russian phobias, ”the official website of the diplomatic agency quoted her as saying.
Zakharova explained that the special correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Yevgeny Reshetnev was banned from entering the country for 5 years, and he was also deprived of the right to visit the Schengen countries for 3 years. Similar measures were applied to the journalist of the “Sputnik” agency Leonid Sviridov. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the journalists were not officially notified of these measures, they learned about the claims from the media.
In particular, Reshetnev was accused of engaging in activities that allegedly go beyond the scope of a journalist’s work, and a campaign was launched against Sviridov to oppose his journalistic activities. He was also illegally deprived of his permanent residence permit in the European Union.
According to Zakharova, the Polish authorities have often accused journalists of espionage, and the restrictions imposed by Warsaw grossly violate the basic principles of freedom of the media and human rights.
On February 18, the TV presenter of the Russia 1 channel, Vladimir Solovyov, was banned from entering the territory of Latvia. The journalist said that he intends to challenge the decision of the Latvian authorities in court.
The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, said that the accusation of journalist Vladimir Solovyov of glorifying Nazism on the part of the Latvian Foreign Ministry can be called nonsense. According to her, the head of the Latvian ministry did not see the source material, which he commented on, since the VGTRK channels are blocked in the country.