EU Resolution Against Russian Media Exposes 'Degradation of Parliamentarism'

The European Parliament's adoption of resolution against Russian media outlets was a sign of decline of parliamentary system and democracy in the European Union, Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said Wednesday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on countering Russian media outlets, such as the Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster. 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.

"This is the degradation of democracy, the degradation of professional journalism, and also the degradation of the parliamentary system as we know it," Chizhov said.

Russian envoy called outrageous the attempt to draw parallels between the activities of Russian media and the propaganda disseminated by the Islamic State terrorist organizations, banned in Russia and other countries.

Chizhov noted that a number of European Parliament members had spoken against the resolution.

"There are different opinions in the European Parliament. But the majority, unfortunately, has not been able to shed the delusions of anti-Russian hysteria, which is largely propagated by the Western media," Chizhov said.

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.

Sputnik news agency has addressed international organizations, including the United Nations, UNESCO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Reporters Without Borders to seek support against restrictions to media freedom in the European Union, aimed at halting the operations of Russian media outlets in Europe.