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Russian State Duma speaker to head WARP supervisory board

Western media outlets are closing their eyes and ears, forgetting about their professional reputation or what freedom of speech is, Sergey Naryshkin, the speaker of the Russian State Duma says
Sergey Naryshkin Anna Isakova/TASS
Sergey Naryshkin
© Anna Isakova/TASS

MOSCOW, December 25 /TASS/. Sergey Naryshkin, the speaker of the Russian State Duma, will head the Supervisory Board of the World Association of Russian Press (WARP).

“Let me thank you for giving us the great honor to head the Supervisory Board,” Vitaly Ignatenko, the WARP president and the first deputy head of the Federation Council (parliament’s upper chamber) Committee on Foreign Affairs, said addressing Naryshkin on Thursday.

In his speech Naryshkin, in turn, noted that the information space had turned into the main battlefield.

“The dirtiest technologies, gross and disgusting falsification of facts and events and the practice of blocking inconvenient stories and inconvenient authors among journalists are being brought into play,” Naryshkin went on to say.

He added that he had an impression that Western media outlets were closing their eyes and ears; forgetting about their professional reputation or what freedom of speech was.

“We often come across these things and know that from our own experience,” the politician said. He gave an example of how the French press had practically ignored a roundtable meeting in Paris which, apart from Naryshkin, had been attended by the cream of local big business.

“Our Ukrainian brothers have been particularly distinct in going as far as banning entire channels and blacklisting our journalists, let alone murdering Russian journalists,” Naryshkin said adding that sooner or later everything would come to the surface.

“No manipulations will be able to conceal the truth in a long-term perspective. The truth is pushing its way, and those who read the media, those who can analyze and read between the lines, sooner or later society will put up its strict criteria to all sources of information,” the Russian State Duma speaker went on to say.

He noted that the language barrier was no longer an insurmountable obstacle. However, he said, we need to admit that it exists.

“In this sense, the activities of the Russian-speaking media in the West and elsewhere in the world is of great importance to us,” Naryshkin said.

“I know that many talented journalists work in creative collectives of Russian-speaking media outlets who can get the truth (to readers) powerfully, clearly and vividly,” Naryshkin stressed adding that their work should be supported and respected.