The Foreign Ministry accused Paris of racism for not allowing a journalist from Russia to see Macron

France set an example of racial discrimination by refusing to allow a Russian journalist to attend the press conference of President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit, the Russian side demands an apology, stated official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

In New Delhi, as Zakharova clarified, the editor-in-chief of the Russia News portal Ekaterina Nadolskaya was not allowed into Macron’s press conference; the French even “tried to break her phone.” According to a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such a decision regarding the journalist was made due to the fact that she represents the Russian media.

“I wonder if Western media, worried about freedom of speech and concerned about rights (for example, Politico Europe), will again not notice another racist attack by Macron’s team against the Russian media? Will they again be surprised at our retaliatory steps to the lawlessness that is happening against the domestic media on the part of the authorities of the EU countries?” – Zakharova wrote in her Telegram channel.

She stressed that Moscow will not ignore the fact that Western countries have again set an “example of racial discrimination and violations of the fundamental principles of democracy.” Russia views the incident as “a blatant manifestation of racism and aggressive nationalism” as it is based on “an act of discrimination based on nationality.” The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also demanded an apology from the Elysee Palace to the media representative.

Now, according to Zakharova, representatives of 11 French media outlets are accredited in Russia. She emphasized that they have free access to participate in press events of the Russian Foreign Ministry, and “nobody stopped the AFP correspondent” from participating in today’s press conference of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.