Peskov pointed out the lack of freedom of speech in the West

There is definitely no freedom of speech in the West, and the events of recent years have shown this. This was stated by Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on November 23.

"Such a number of ordered materials, such a number of fakes, which are published now by the most respected publications, of course, it would have been difficult to believe it two years ago," Peskov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman noted, there are still journalists in Western countries who try to analyze the situation from different sides, and Russia cooperates with such press.

The day before, the Russian delegation to UNESCO said that the organization's 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, restricts the rights of journalists.

Before that, on October 2, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the UN does not respect journalism and does not ensure freedom of speech, commenting on the downgrading of accreditation to VGTRK New York bureau chief Valentin Bogdanov for his 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 the case, the UN published a letter in which they stated without specifics that Bogdanov had violated media access rules.

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, told Izvestiya that the EU was violating the right to freedom of speech of the media in this way. He noted that Brussels was seeking to prevent the audience from hearing the Russian point of view.