Media
Saturday 23 September 2017
-
Margarita Simonyan and RT
RT's chief editor
“The American establishment’s war against our journalists is dedicated to all the starry-eyed who still believed in freedom of speech. It was killed by those who invented it."
Read more...The U.S. probe of RT and Sputnik to determine whether they must register as foreign agents is a lawful process befitting a functioning democracy. As registered foreign agents, the outlets would still be able to broadcast without censorship – a right protected under the U.S. Constitution and laws. -
Dmitry Peskov
press secretary for Russian President
”This is not about any kind of censorship. But, of course, in providing grants, the state has the right to designate certain topics that are of particular interest to the state. But to call this some kind of manifestation of censorship would be wrong."
Read more...President Vladimir Putin and his press secretary Dmitry Peskov insist that the arrest of a famed director Kirill Serebrennikov has nothing to do with politics or censorship. The involvement of the FSB’s 2nd Service calls their claim into question. -
RT
Russia’s state-funded international network
“The UK will oppose a preemptive ban on ‘killer robots’, despite widespread calls in the UN to prohibit the use of ‘murder machines’.”
Read more...RT neglects to point out that Russia itself has developed such autonomous robots and has not supported a UN ban on them. -
Russian Foreign Ministry
“The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed that Syria’s chemical arsenal was completely destroyed under international supervision.”
Read more...The OPCW, tasked with overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles, has stated it can only confirm the elimination of materials declared by the Syrian government. It has growing suspicions, in the words of the director, that Damascus may have hidden 'some chemical weapons," in light of corroborated reports of their use by Syrian forces. -
Oleksandr Turchynov
secretary of Ukraine's Security and Defense Council (NSDC)
"Ukraine has never supplied rocket engines or any kind of missile technology to North Korea.”
Read more...Aside from Ukrainian denials, even Michael Elleman, the missile expert cited by the New York Times, conceded that the engines could have come from a Russian factory. -
RT
Russian government broadcaster
“Russian athletes banned from singing national anthem at hotels at London World Championship.”
Read more...RT reported Russian athletes participating in the 2017 IAAF World Championships athletics competition in London as “neutrals” – that is, who, for various reasons, are not allowed or not willing to represent their country of origin – have been banned from displaying any signs of national identity. This rule applies to any “neutral” athlete from any country. -
Sergei Chemezov
head of state conglomerate Rostec
"An old acquaintance, a common past with the president definitely is not an indulgence."
Read more...Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB officer who served with President Vladimir Putin in East Germany, is among his close associates whose careers with high positions in government have greatly benefited by his friendship, usually while serving in the KGB. -
Sputnik
Russian state broadcaster
“On April 13, the U.S. dropped a non-atomic bomb in the Achin district of the Afghan province of Nangarhar, known as the 'Mother of All Bombs' or MOAB. Following the incident, the citizens who survived are showing signs of horrible diseases.”
Read more...The Russian government's international broadcaster Sputnik, citing anonymous “survivors,” reported that the U.S. MOAB bomb, used against Islamic State targets in Afghanistan in April, caused “radiation” diseases among local civilians. The MOAB has no radioactive components and locals refute the allegations as “lies”. -
Tatyana Moskalkova
Russia's human rights ombudsman
“Four times fewer Russian citizens are going to the European Criminal Court [sic]. Because today the European court doesn’t meet our ideas of justice. It takes a long time to consider things, selectively.”
Read more...Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, claims Russians are turning away from the European Court of Human Rights, but her figures are hard to back up. -
Press Service of the Russian Southern Military District
"[N]o one from the command ever met with [Viktor] Ageyev and couldn't have signed a contract with him...he signed the so-called contract...in Luhansk, where there have not been and are no active Russian servicemen."
Read more...While the Russian military denies it has troops in Ukraine and that Ageyev was on active duty, he testified that he was, as did his mother, friends and a fellow serviceman, and his ID does not show a discharge. -
Sputnik
Russian government international broadcaster
“Nevada Declares State of Emergency Over Weed Shortage”
Read more...The Kremlin-funded international broadcaster Sputnik reported that the governor of Nevada declared a state of emergency over the state’s shortage of marijuana supplies. In fact, no state of emergency was ordered in Nevada. -
TASS
Russian state news agency
“Iranian television on Thursday distributed photographs confirming the death of the head of the Islamic State terrorist group, Abu Baqr al-Baghdadi.”
Read more...Russia’s state news agency TASS reported that Iranian TV had published photographic proof that Islamic State leader Abu Baqr al-Baghdadi was killed in a Russian airstrike in May. In fact, the same pictures had been circulating around the Internet since 2014.