Deputy CEO of Channel One called sanctions a privilege

Kirill Kleimenov, Deputy General Director of Channel One, considered it a privilege to be included in the EU sanctions list.

On Saturday night, the representative office of Sweden, which presides over the Council of the European Union, announced that the EU countries had approved the tenth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. A number of Russian journalists and media companies fell under EU sanctions, including Kleymenov. Restrictions were also imposed on the editor-in-chief of Regnum agency Marina Akhmedova, as well as journalist Oleksandr Kots for “supporting actions that threaten the territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Under the sanctions were the executive director of the Rossiya Segodnya media group Kirill Vyshinsky, the editor-in-chief of Rossiya 24 Yevgeny Bekasov, and others. In addition, the Russian media group Patriot, which includes the FAN news agency and the Rossiya Segodnya media group, was added to the EU’s “black list”.

According to Kleimenov, he was surprised that he was only now under sanctions. He also took pity on the initiators of the sanctions, noting that they “do not understand how the Russians work.”

“When they say that traveling to Europe is a privilege, I just laugh. A privilege is to be with your country when it is difficult for it, to be useful to it. I am not one of those who change their Motherland for chewing gum, ”he said.

The EU was going to introduce the next sanctions by February 24, 2023. The approval of the tenth package of sanctions lasted 3 days, during which European diplomats could not reach a consensus.