Sham FM Director General Samer Yousef sent MIA Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kisilev a letter of solidarity.
Samer Yousef wrote, “European Parliament’s resolution against Russian media, and Sputnik News Agency in particular, came as a surprise to us. This decision is unfair towards free and objective media.”
“We were shocked to know that such resolution was adopted by the countries that always call for defense of freedom of thought and speech, and human rights,” Yousef stressed.
In today's world the public obtains information from many different sources, he added. Unfortunately, some media falsify information on purpose for their own selfish political goals. Because of this, the work of Russian media gains crucial importance because they “report information objectively and truthfully without distorting facts. That is what makes Russian media different,” wrote Yousef.
“We consider this resolution to be a shameful stain on all European countries which are trying to enforce silence on the voice of freedom and truth,” the letter says.
“The EU Parliament’s stance confirms the high standard of Russian media’s proficiency and moral principles,” Yousef wrote.
“We condemn this irresponsible behavior, and express over regret over the adoption of this unjust resolution directed against the Russian media. We express our solidarity with you. We urge the European Parliament to reconsider its decision to ban respected Russian international media,” the letter says.
Earlier this week, the EU Parliament okayed a draft resolution proposed by EU lawmaker from Poland Anna Elzbieta Fotyga "On EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against the bloc by third parties", which says that Russia is allegedly engaging in Anti-EU propaganda.
A total of 691 lawmakers participated in the vote: 304 voted in favor of the resolution, 179 against it and 208 abstained from voting. The authors of the document equate counteracting Russia with the resistance to Daesh terrorist group and call on EU member states to boost financing to counter-propaganda projects.
