"More recently — and these attempts are still ongoing — they [European officials] tried to 'teach us' democracy, and we have always heard from these 'teachers' that the most vicious way to do business with opponents is to ban something and that it is not consistent with the principles and norms of democracy. Open discussion is always the best way," Putin said.
The Russian president congratulated Sputnik news agency and RT TV channel on effective work.
The EU parliament resolution is an "evident sign of degradation of the Western society's vision of democracy," Putin said.
"If such a decision [of the European Parliament on the fight against Russian media] is adopted, it says that we see a quite obvious degradation in the political sense of this word of the vision of democracy in the Western society," he said.
Putin also added that he hoped common sense will prevail and there would be no real restrictions concerning the work of Russian media.
