EU Resolution on Russian Media 'Wrong Political Decision', Italian Ex-FM Claims

The European Parliament’s resolution aimed at counteracting Russian media is a “deeply wrong political decision” while the fact that it draws parallel between Russia and Daesh terrorists is outrageous, former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to Frattini, the resolution was adopted because of the “prejudicial, negative attitude” of the members of the European Parliament towards Russia.

“I think it was not only a deeply wrong political decision, but it was also outrageous to put the word ‘Russia’ beside such words as ‘Daesh’ and ‘terrorism.’ Russia is among the countries, if not the only country, which is fighting against terrorism and Daesh,” Frattini said in an interview with the RT broadcaster.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on countering Russian media outlets, such as Sputnik and RT. Out of 691 lawmakers taking part in the vote, 304 voted in favor of the resolution, 179 voted against it, and 208 abstained. Therefore, less than half of the lawmakers supported the resolution.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the adoption of the European Parliament’s resolution on Russian media, congratulated RT and Sputnik journalists on effective work and stressed that this resolution indicated apparent degradation of the concept of democracy in the Western society. Putin also expressed hope that common sense would prevail and that there would be no actual restrictions against the Russian media.

Daesh is a jihadist group outlawed in Russia and multiple other countries.