US State Dept. Fails to Specify Details of 'Responsibility' of Sputnik in Syria

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A spokesperson of the US Department of State on Friday was not able to clarify the words of Heather Nauert, the department's spokeswoman, about the "responsibility" of the Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster for the situation in Syria.

"We would refer you to Sputnik and RT," the spokesperson told Sputnik in response to a request to specify the details of the "unique responsibility."

Ernest Sagaga, the head of human rights and safety department of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) told Sputnik commenting on Nauert's words that the federation considered "a bit unfair" the statement of the US official adding that no media outlets were responsible for defining foreign policy and they could not be responsible for it.

READ MORE: IFJ Says 'Unfair' to Hold Sputnik, RT Responsible for Ending Bloodshed in Syria

Alexei Chepa, a member of the Russian lower house’s international affairs committee, told Sputnik that the US diplomat's statement was a "provocation," while Andrey Klimov, the chairman of the Russian upper house's commission on protection of state sovereignty, said that instead of placing responsibility on media outlets, the United States should contribute to the end of violence in the crisis-torn Syria.

On Thursday, Nauert suggested at a briefing that reporters should ask Russian President Vladimir Putin, RT and Sputnik what they are doing to stop the violence in Syria, adding that they could do more to end the fighting and that they bear a "unique responsibility" for the situation in Syria. Commenting on Nauert's statement Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Sputnik, said that it was not bad that the US diplomats, who used to look for the answers to the questions they did not know in the office, started looking for answers at RT and Sputnik.