UNESCO refused to accredit Russian journalists to the IPDC meeting

The United Nations (UN) specialized agency for education, science and culture, which includes the sites in the World Heritage List (UNESCO), has denied accreditation to the meeting of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) to Russian journalists. The Russian delegation said in a statement on November 22.

"The secretariat refused accreditation to the IPDC meeting and admission to the UNESCO headquarters to Russian journalists, despite the fact that according to the IPDC rules the meetings are open and there are no prohibitions on visiting the Organization," - noted in the Telegram-channel of the Russian delegation to UNESCO.

The Russian side concluded that the UNESCO secretariat, headed by French citizen Audrey Azoulay, succumbed to the pressure of the "collective West" and began to declare freedom of speech only "in words". In fact, the organization, on the contrary, was restricting the rights of journalists. The Russian delegation demanded from the secretariat strict compliance with the UNESCO Charter.

"The UNESCO Secretariat and Director General Azoulay in action," commented the decision of the organization official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova in her Telegram-channel.

Prior to that, on October 2, Zakharova stated that the UN does not respect journalism and does not ensure freedom of speech, commenting on the downgrading of accreditation of the New York bureau chief of VGTRK Valentin Bogdanov for questions to German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock. The correspondent published a video in his Telegram channel in which the minister's guards pushed him away and prevented him from asking a question. After this case, the UN published a letter in which they stated without specifics that Bogdanov had violated the rules of media access.

Earlier, on May 17, the European Union decided to ban the broadcasting of a number of Russian media outlets, including Izvestiya, on the territory of the association. The restrictions came into force on May 18. Vladimir Solovyov, chairman of the Russian Union of Journalists, pointed out in a conversation with Izvestiya that the EU was thus violating the media's right to freedom of speech. He noted that Brussels was seeking to prevent the audience from hearing the Russian point of view.