Media
Saturday 24 June 2017
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Kiselyov’s legal defense team
“Dmitry Kiselyov has never expressed support for the directing of Russian forces to Ukraine... The EU Council did not provide information necessary to ensure [his] legal right to defense, since the accusations leveled were formulated in an unduly vague way.”
Read more...Lawyers for pro-Kremlin media figure Dmitry Kiselyov claim their client never expressed support for sending Russian troops into Ukraine, and that the European Council has denied him the right to legal defense. In fact, Kiselyov is notorious for provocative comments about Ukraine and the court followed regular procedures in adjudicating his case. -
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
"We have hundreds of television companies and radio companies. The state doesn't control them at all, it is simply impossible."
Read more...While the state does not own all TV or engage in prior censorship, TV stations deemed too critical of the Kremlin have been forced off the air; large opposition protests are ignored, causing critics to turn to YouTube as an alternative. -
Dmitry Peskov
Russian Presidential Press Secretary
“I know nothing about this, this is the first time I’ve heard about it.” [in reply to a query about then-President Barack Obama directly addressing President Putin on Russia’s alleged hacking attacks on the U.S.]
Read more...President Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, denies any knowledge of a phone call between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, in which the U.S. President addressed his Russian counterpart on the subject of alleged Russian cyber-attacks and interference in the 2016 presidential elections. Unfortunately for Peskov, he had briefed journalists on this very phone call less than six months earlier. -
Nikolai Patrushev
chairman of the Russian Security Council
“Western technologists have not renounced their plans to implement 'color scenarios' in our country […]. As a rule, such an outburst of activity from opposition forces is observed in the run-up to federal election campaigns. It is no accident that the West is allocating financial and material means to non-governmental organizations in Russia and creating so-called "independent" Russian-language mass media.”
Read more...Due to Kremlin crackdown, few foreign-funded NGOs or independent media operating in Russia. Those that still do are not involved in elections such as the forthcoming 2018 presidential ballot. -
Maria Zakharova
Spokesperson, Russian Foreign Ministry
“The most acute anxiety is being experienced by the Football Association of Norway, which on May 16 sent the International Federation of Association Football [FIFA] a letter that contains a request to launch an investigation into the use of immigrant labor in the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium in St. Petersburg under conditions reminiscent of modern slavery, without registration, for a beggarly payment and so on. This topic is an instrument of political pressure and blackmail, and in this case, it is an information campaign. We urge you to not react to these fakes.”
Read more...Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied that North Koreans building a stadium for the 2018 World Cup in St. Petersburg are working under conditions reminiscent of modern slavery, calling these accusations “fake” and “political blackmail.” However, several international organizations, including FIFA, the world football body, and the United Nations confirm these violations of labor rights in Russia. -
Channel One
Russian state television broadcaster
“The case against Russian citizen Denis Katsyv, the owner of the Prevezon company and the first defendant under so-called Magnitsky law, actually fell apart in a New York federal court.”
Read more...Russian state TV’s Channel One reported on May 24 that the U.S. government case against a Russian businessman accused of money laundering under the Magnitsky Act “actually fell apart” in a New York federal court. In fact, a settlement was reached in the case, with the defendant paying the U.S. Treasury nearly $6 million, pending court approval. -
Russian Embassy in the UK
“WikiLeaks informer Seth Rich murdered in US but UK MSM was so busy accusing Russian hackers to take notice.”
Read more...No evidence has been produced that DNC staffer Seth Rich, murdered in 2016 likely in a botched robbery, leaked Clinton campaign emails to WikiLeaks; sources for the story have retracted their claims. -
Izvestia
pro-government Russian daily
"More than 150,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to organize a referendum to leave NATO. [...] Moreover, residents of the country are expressing their dissatisfaction over the deployment of NATO bases on Slovak territory at the latest rally on May 18. Support of NATO by the population has markedly dropped. Slovakia may become the first country to announce its departure from the Alliance by 2020."
Read more...Izvestia appears to have exaggerated the extent of anti-NATO sentiment in Slovakia, as polls indicate only 20% of the population are for leaving the alliance. Protests have been small in number and the petition effort, begun last year, has less than half the signatures required. Experts believe an exit is not likely. -
Sergey Lavrov
Foreign Minister, Russia
Q: What happened in Washington with the photographer? Lavrov: The White House has explained that there was no scandal concerning this. Q: It was Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova who said that there wasn’t any scandal. Lavrov: No, it was the White House. On their website they posted that everything was agreed upon in advance, just as in the case of other ministers.
Read more...Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking on Sunday in Beijing, China, said information was published on the U.S. White House website explaining that “there was no scandal” involving photographs taken by a Russian photojournalist during President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Russian media published the photos despite the fact that the meeting was closed to the press. -
Victor Ozerov
Head of the Russian Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee
"Of course, Russia does not allow anyone not only in its ports, but in its territorial waters, without permission. This legislation is absurd. It remains unclear how the U.S. will control our ports. We are a sovereign nation."
Read more...Russian lawmakers have harshly criticized revised U.S. legislation on North Korea’s nuclear program, claiming it is a bid to “control” Russia’s Far East seaports. In reality, the legislation sets the groundwork for monitoring and imposing sanctions on states violating a United Nation Security Council resolution on North Korea. -
Russian Defense Ministry
Ministry's Center for the Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in Syria
“According to information from a number of sources among local residents and opposition formations … special ‘video brigades’ carried out staged filming in the past week of the alleged consequences of shelling and airstrikes, including the use of ‘poisonous substances.”
Read more...Russia has accused Al Jazeera of faking videos of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. But no matter how many times they rewrite the story, it looks extremely flimsy.