MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The European Parliament’s resolution aimed at counteracting Russian media violates principles of freedom of speech and press, Ulrich Gellermann, a German journalist and filmmaker, told Sputnik on Friday.
“Of course, it is absolutely incompatible [with freedom of speech and press],” Gellermann said.
From his point of view, the attack on Russian media was caused by decreasing people’s confidence in European mainstream media.
Gellermann also called an attempt to compare Russian media with Daesh a “mean trick.”
“The only good thing here is that nobody believes in that,” he said.
The journalist added that banning Russian media such as RT broadcaster and Sputnik news agency could spark protests.
“That is in contradiction with the [German] constitution! That is prohibited! In our country everybody can express his point of view in oral and written form or with the help of fine arts and it [the constitution] does not say ‘except Russians',” Gellermann added.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on countering Russian media outlets, such as Sputnik and RT. Out of 691 lawmakers taking part in the vote, 304 voted in favor of the resolution, 179 voted against it, and 208 abstained. Therefore, less than half of the lawmakers supported the resolution.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the adoption of the European Parliament’s resolution on Russian media, congratulated RT and Sputnik journalists on 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.
