Peskov: Russia can accept the Western press depending on their behavior

Russia may accredit the Western press for further events, but this will depend on their behavior and the behavior of Western countries. This was stated by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov in an interview with TASS.

“Let’s see what the regime will be, how they [западные издания] will behave <...> Everything will depend on the mode of their work. Everything will depend on the attitude towards our journalists in foreign countries – in unfriendly ones,” the Kremlin spokesman said.

According to him, there will be no more “business as usual” and Russia is not ready to tolerate “such an attitude towards our journalists abroad.”

In April, US authorities denied visas to Russian journalists who were supposed to accompany Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York. On April 19, the Foreign Ministry announced that the United States is obliged to issue visas to Russian journalists to cover the minister’s participation in the UN Security Council, stressing that they are also part of the Russian delegation. According to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, the Russian journalists who arrived at the airport did not receive American visas.

White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby explainedthat visas were not issued because “Russian state media are propaganda organs.” At the same time, he noted that the United States considers it important “to defend the freedom of the press, the independence of the press, which should freely do its job.”