"This report mentions none of the well-known facts of the deaths of Russian journalists, which makes Mrs Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, a direct accomplice in the information war against the Russia, against the truth," Lavrov said during an ambassadorial roundtable on Ukraine.
Lavrov accused the West of running an aggressive information campaign against Russia and the global majority majority, which pursues its independent domestic and foreign policies.
The UNESCO chief published her 2022-2023 report on the impunity for crimes against journalists on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists last week. It omitted several cases of deaths and injuries among Russian journalists reported in the line of duty, including the killing of RIA Novosti correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev in a Ukrainian shelling in July 2023.
Rossiya Segodnya international media group demanded in a letter to Azoulay that UNESCO stop covering up violations of the rights of Russian journalists. Similar letters were sent by the Russian Union of Journalists and the VGTRK and RT broadcasters.