UJR Chairman Vladimir Solovyov spoke about the work of journalists in the era of Russophobia

January 13 is Russian Press Day. Journalists will celebrate their professional holiday this time at the forefront of the information war. Detentions of colleagues on monstrous accusations in the Baltics, attempts to squeeze Russian media out of the European information space, the need to live and work under daily massive “shelling” of fakes from the Ukrainian CIPSO in social networks – now everyday life and holidays have become such for journalists.

How to keep cool in such difficult conditions and do your professional duty every day, how to help colleagues in trouble and what sources of information to trust – “MK” was told by the chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia Vladimir Solovyov.

— Vladimir Gennadievich, this year the Russian Press Day will be met by journalists in a very difficult situation. Abroad, our colleagues are openly poisoned. Sputnik editor-in-chief Marat Kasem was recently detained in Riga on suspicion of espionage and faces up to 20 years in prison. Do you think the West, and in particular the Baltic states, has decided to finally squeeze Russian journalists out of their information field?

— The Baltic countries declare freedom of the press. But in fact, they go beyond all possible limits prescribed in their own laws and constitutions. They shamelessly violate international laws related to journalism.

What is happening now is even difficult to comment on. Russian and pro-Russian media are being squeezed out of the Western information space. Moreover, brutal suppression is already underway with the use of such means as detention and imprisonment. This is unacceptable.

Such a policy has been pursued in Western countries for a long time, but it became more active with the start of a special military operation. It has already become really dangerous for Russian journalists to work in the same Baltic states. We tell our colleagues that it is better not to go there unless there is an urgent need.

As for Marat Kasem, we will make all necessary efforts for his release through international journalistic and human rights organizations. Unfortunately, the authorities of these countries do not heed the statements of our Foreign Ministry. On the contrary, they do everything exactly the opposite.

– The Baltics even cracked down on the Dozhd TV channel (recognized as a foreign agent – “MK”). Although it seemed that they should be patronized there. Perhaps, after the story of the revocation of the license, the journalists who fled Russia and accuse it of all mortal sins will come to their senses?

It is unlikely that these people will ever come to their senses. They fit very well into the system of anti-Russian propaganda. The same Dozhd has already opened an office in the Netherlands. This indicates that such mass media in the West will actively feed them with grants and provide them with financial assistance in any other form.

They have already shown their activity in the work against Russia and put an end to work in our country. So no, they won’t change their minds and won’t come back. But the situation itself is indicative. This is outrageous Russophobia: even an openly Russophobic TV channel was banned due to several reservations on the air.

Speaking of reservations. Some experts reproach the Russian media for the fact that we cannot effectively wage an information war and cannot even develop a common language for covering events on the fronts of the NMD. For example, we call the Armed Forces of Ukraine either militants, or Bandera, or neo-Nazis. Do we really need to compile some kind of unified vocabulary for media workers?

– I think that we should not try to cut everyone with the same brush. This is exactly what they did in Ukraine – they strangled all the media. Now only military propaganda structures broadcast there. Journalists there are afraid to make a mistake, they say as the system of state propaganda dictates. The same thing is happening in the West: there you can either say bad things about Russia or not at all. And we have different points of view, and that’s good. This suggests that there is freedom of the press in Russia.

– Social networks and Telegram were flooded with fakes – from stuffing about a new wave of mobilization to fake orders from the FSB to close borders in Russia. Even Dmitry Peskov called it information sabotage. How can journalists deal with this?

– In social networks and Telegram, there are really a lot of channels specially created by CIPSO. They are assisted by the military propaganda centers of the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Poland and the Baltic States. First, an innocent blog is created, and when it gains a sufficient number of subscribers, they begin to inject the poison of fakes into it. This is done on purpose to make the audience nervous. This is a war without rules.

These tapes must be read with great care. Journalists should try to keep their cool and not panic. You need to choose for yourself several channels that you can trust and work with them. And all other information, as we were taught, to check from several sources.