MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti) - Vladimir Yakunin, the head of Russia’s rail monopoly RZD, criticized the media on Wednesday over its coverage of the Russian president’s visit to a trade fair in Hanover, Germany, earlier this week.
“I was in Hanover with the delegation," he said. "I can say that what we saw there, and what we read in the Western media as well as references in our media, are two worlds apart.”
Yakunin said media reports about the event create the illusion that both Russia and Europe have no other problems apart from sexual minority rights.
“I think that this [media attention to gay rights in Russia] is pure lunacy. Add a couple of freakish girls, who get undressed on any occasion. These are the most noticeable issues in reports from the Hanover fair,” he said.
Bare-breasted protesters from the FEMEN feminist group briefly confronted Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday at the Hanover fair before being dragged off by security staff. Later that day, gay rights supporters picketed a building in Amsterdam where Putin was meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
