EU Lawmaker Says Anti-Russian Media Resolution Exposes Hypocrisy of West

Tatjana Zdanoka, a Latvian member of the European Parliament criticized the EU resolution aimed at counteracting the Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster as well as the "double standards" of western media outlets.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The draft resolution on EU strategic communication to counteract propaganda against the bloc by third parties says that Russia is allegedly engaged in propaganda against the European Union. Authors of the document equate counteracting Russia with the resistance to the Islamic State terror group, outlawed in Russia, and call on EU member states to boost financing counterpropaganda projects. The vote on the issue is set for Wednesday.

"The very principle of freedom of expression and information is challenged in this resolution… It is impossible to understand what happens if you watch only channels like CNN, BBC, Euronews… For example the coverage by these channels of events in Aleppo and Mosul is based on evident double standards, so channel Russia Today effectively contributes to the principle of pluralism of media," Zdanoka said Tuesday at the European Parliament's plenary session dedicated to the discussion of the resolution.

She added that "red lines" had been crossed in the resolution, which was "offensive" in form and content, and every country had its own think tanks, special bodies and multilingual TV stations.

The European Union and the United States regularly accuse Russia of being engaged in information warfare with the West. In March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the United States should put an end to its anti-Russian campaign in the Western media.