Moscow on Ottawa’s Refusal to Let Sputnik Cover Lima Group Meeting: ‘Shameful’

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Canada’s refusal to provide Russian media, including Sputnik and Ria Novosti, with credentials to cover the Lima Group meeting on Venezuela is shameful and politically motivated, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in Canada told Sputnik on Monday.

"A decision by Canada’s Foreign Ministry to refuse to provide press credentials to Russian media to cover the meeting of the so-called Lima Group is shameful and is worth of strong condemnation," the embassy spokesperson said.

"The targeted harassment of the news agencies Sputnik and Ria Novosti as well as the duly accredited in Canada correspondent of TASS runs counter to the declared by Canadian side commitment to free speech, and is nothing more than a politically motivated persecution of journalists", the spokesman said.

READ MORE: Lima Group Seeks Contact With Russia, China on Venezuela Crisis – Guaido’s Envoy

The spokesperson also said "Canada should stop the practice of restricting the right of journalists to freely cover events, without being obstructed or persecuted," and instead "apply to itself the same rules and standards, the observance of which it requires from others."