French Authorities Block Russian Journalist from Macron's Press Conference and Attempt to Break Her Phone, Says Russian Foreign Ministry

Today, Ekaterina Nadolskaya, the chief editor of a Russian federal news portal, was rudely denied access to a press conference held by French President Emmanuel Macron during the G20 summit in New Delhi. This was reported by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, on her Telegram channel.

“Moreover, the French attempted to break her phone. The reason for such discrimination, as explicitly stated by a staff member of the French press service, is that the journalist represents a Russian media outlet. It is interesting to note whether Western media, which is concerned about freedom of speech and rights (for instance, Politico Europe), will once again ignore Macron's team's latest racist assault on Russian media. Will they be surprised again at our retaliatory actions against the authorities of EU countries, which are committing abuses against domestic media?”

“We cannot and humbly will not ignore the fact that the vanguard of Western pseudo-democracies, this time in the guise of France, has once again demonstrated a clear example of racial discrimination and the violation of fundamental principles of democracy. In addition to this, Paris has effectively begun a 'witch hunt' within its own information space, virtually destroying the presence of Russian broadcasters within its public domain and creating unbearable conditions for domestic reporters’ activities. They are now unreservedly expressing such contempt for diversity of opinion and media rights even outside the borders of the 'collective West', in countries and regions where France has long preached democracy and freedom of speech.”

“Such policies, filled with deceit, arrogance, and a sense of exceptionalism, will ultimately work against them. We view the incident as a blatant manifestation of racism and aggressive nationalism, as the underlying issue is national discrimination. We demand an apology from the Elysee Palace on behalf of the media representative.”

“Currently, there are 11 representatives of French media accredited in Russia. They all have free access to participate in the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press events. By the way, no one obstructed the France-Presse correspondent from attending the press conference held by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov following the results of the G20 summit,” wrote Maria Zakharova.