The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed on Thursday media reports that allege Russia's links to the recent death of the White Helmets's founder, James Le Mesurier.
"However, Western journalists prefer not to see and not to hear anything that does not fit it their accustomed vision of the world. Global 'liberalization' has affected the quality of the media. Journalism of facts has been replaced by the journalism of opinions, specifically, opinions that are not substantiated with anything, in the 'highly likely' spirit. Facts are not needed, emotions are needed," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry was referring in its statement, issued on Facebook, to the Daily Mail's article "Why do so many of Russia's enemies plunge to their death from balconies?", in which the newspaper also mentioned Russian journalist Olga Kotosvkaya and UK entrepreneur Scott Young.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that "British tabloids" had already published many articles about Russia's alleged role in the death of Le Mesurier, who was also a former UK intelligence officer. Meanwhile, since 2016 at last 120 publications related to "cynical crimes" of the White Helmets and Le Mesurier's role in the "dubious project" have been released, the ministry recalled.
Le Mesurier, a British private security specialist and former UK military intelligence officer, was found dead at his home in Istanbul on 11 November. He founded the White Helmets in Turkey in March 2013. Before that, he served as an intelligence officer in other theatres of conflict, including a stint in Pristina, Kosovo soon after the NATO intervention in 1999.
The White Helmets have been repeatedly accused of staging fake attacks in the conflict in Syria in a bid to prompt a Western-backed military intervention in the war-torn country.
