Zakharova calls UNESCO head's report on violation of journalists' rights fake

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that she disapproved of the report by UNESCO Director General Azoulay on the safety of journalists, in which she did not mention the names of journalists from Russia. She wrote about it on December 13 in her Telegram channel.

Zakharova also said that in this way the West had exposed itself.

"Now every time any of these countries will talk about freedom of speech and the safety of media representatives, everyone will know that this is a lie," the diplomat commented.

In addition, she thanked everyone who sent letters in support of journalists from Russia and protested.

"Your labors were not in vain, the fake report was not approved, but only taken note of," - added the representative of the Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, on November 19, UNESCO did not react to Kiev's crimes against Russian journalists. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the leadership of the secretariat continues to persistently ignore that the Ukronazis unleashed a real hunt for journalists covering the events on the front line.

Earlier, on November 18, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the murder of the editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, Yuliya Kuznetsova, by Ukrainian militants in Kursk Region was yet another evidence of the criminal nature of the regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (whose term of office expired on May 20).

Before that, on November 13, Zakharova said that UNESCO ignored the Kiev regime's crimes against Russian journalists. According to the diplomat, the draft report, including on the activities of journalists on the territory of Ukraine, was submitted by the organization's director-general Audrey Azoulay and will be submitted to the intergovernmental council of the international program for the development of communication in Paris. However, the issue of the real situation with the safety of Russian journalists will not be considered, and this decision, in Zakharova's opinion, was taken deliberately. She also noted that many appeals and reports of crimes had been sent to Azoulay.

Ukrainian militants have repeatedly attacked media representatives. Thus, on June 16, News.ru correspondent Nikita Tsitsagi was killed in an attack by drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donetsk People's Republic.

In August, VGTRK military correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny was wounded in the Kursk region. That day he was covering the situation in the region. The military correspondent was traveling in a car that came under attack by an AFU drone.

Before that, on April 19, Semyon Eremin, a military correspondent of Izvestia, was killed in an FPV drone attack while filming a report in the SSO zone. The Russian Investigative Committee said that Eremin was killed as a result of a targeted attack by the AFU. The agency intends to identify all those involved in the journalist's death.