Resolution Against Russian Media Violates EU Citizens' Right to Data Access

© Sputnik / Natalia Seliverstova / Go to the mediabankThe Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square in Moscow.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Smolenskaya-Sennaya Square in Moscow. - Sputnik International
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The European Parliament's resolution to counter Russian media outlets is violating EU citizens’ right to freedom of access to information and damages the institution's credibility, Russian Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said Wednesday.

European Parliament - Sputnik International
Resolution Against Russian Media Shows West Loses Information Monopoly - Senator
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on countering Russian media outlets, such as the Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster. Authors of the document equate counteracting Russia with the resistance to Daesh terrorist group and call on EU member states to boost financing counter-propaganda projects.

"Certainly, this is a violation of the human rights, but what is important is that the decision is based on ambiguous arithmetic. Over a half of the members of the EU Parliament did not support the resolution. This indicated that such policy of ‘indirect sanctions’ with regard to the Russian media sees decreasing support even throughout the European Union and its institutions," Dolgov told RIA Novosti, adding that the authors of the resolution attempted to casts a shadow over the work of the Russian Federal Agency on Commonwealth of Independent States Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo).

Dolgov stressed that such decisions damage the EU Parliament's credibility as the "taking actions which undermine the fundamental principles of democracy."

"They do not want to and cannot compete neither in content nor in an objective and impartial presentation of information, therefore, they think that it is necessary to restrict or to prohibit [certain media outlets], thus violating the legal rights of citizens of their own countries to free access to information, violate freedom of expression — those freedoms that they declaratively proclaim," the ombudsman said.

Russia Today - Sputnik International
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EU Resolution Against Russian Media ‘Not Curtailing’ Press Freedoms - HRW
The resolution claims that Russia is allegedly providing opposition political parties and organization in the EU member states with financial support, using bilateral interstate relations to divide the bloc. The Sputnik news agency, the RT channel, the Russkiy Mir foundation and the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Cultural Cooperation are named as main information threats to the European Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, when commenting on the adoption of the resolution, congratulated RT and Sputnik journalists for effective work and stressed that this resolution indicated apparent degradation of the concept of democracy in the Western society. Putin also expressed hope that common sense would prevail and that there would be no actual restrictions against the Russian media.

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