Putin: EU Parliament Resolution against Russian Media Evident Sign of Degradation of West’s Vision of Democracy

MOSCOW- Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the EU parliament resolution adopted today against Russian media. He said that Europe is trying to “teach” Russia democracy.

Earlier in the day, The European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on countering Russian media outlets, such as the Sputnik news agency and the RT broadcaster. Authors of the document equate counteracting Russia with the resistance to Daesh terrorist group and call on EU member states to boost financing counter-propaganda projects, according to Sputnik.

“More recently — and these attempts are still ongoing — they [European officials] tried to ‘teach us’ democracy, and we have always heard from these ‘teachers’ that the most vicious way to do business with opponents is to ban something and that it is not consistent with the principles and norms of democracy. Open discussion is always the best way,” Putin said.

  The Russian president congratulated Sputnik news agency and RT TV channel on effective work.

The EU parliament resolution is an “evident sign of degradation of the Western society’s vision of democracy,” Putin said.

“If such a decision [of the European Parliament on the fight against Russian media] is adopted, it says that we see a quite obvious degradation in the political sense of this word of the vision of democracy in the Western society,” he said.

 Putin also added that he hoped common sense will prevail and there would be no real restrictions concerning the work of Russian media.

A total of 691 lawmakers participated in the vote: 304 voted in favor of the resolution, 179 against it and 208 abstained from voting.

Authors of the document equate counteracting Russia with the resistance to Daesh terrorist group and call on EU member states to boost financing counter-propaganda projects.

According to the EU Observer media outlet, the working group on information counteracting Russia may get 1 million euros ($1.06 million) to pursue the above-mentioned aim. The non-binding draft document says that Russia is allegedly “aggressively employing a wide range of tools and instruments” to weaken the European Union.

The draft resolution claims that Russia is allegedly providing opposition political parties and organization in the EU member states with financial support, using bilateral interstate relations to divide the bloc. The Sputnik news agency, the RT channel, the Russkiy Mir foundation and the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Cultural Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) are named as main information threats to the European Union.

In order to counteract the so-called Russian propaganda, the document calls on the EU members states to cooperate with NATO to develop mechanisms of coordinated strategic communications and countering hybrid threats

Sputnik Urges Measures to Stop Interference into Freedom of Speech in the EU

Sputnik has already appealed to the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and a number of international journalists’ organizations and NGOs, including Reporters Without Borders, to take measures to stop what it considers to be interference into freedom of speech in the EU, according to RT.

“The resolution hits straight at a number of respected media, including Sputnik agency, and has an aim to stop their activity in the EU. Moreover, the resolution bluntly contradicts the  EU’s own human rights and freedom of press norms,” reads the letter signed by Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan.

Some MEPs Call Anti-Russian Media Draft Resolution Insane, Ridiculous

Before the Wednesday vote, the document had been criticized by some MEPs, who called it both “insane” and “ridiculous.” The EU “desperately needs an enemy, be it Russia or any other,” that it can blame for any of its own failures, French MEP Jean-Luc Schaffhaueser told RT. Spanish MEP Javier Couso Permuy said “it fosters hysteria against Russia,” while British MEP James Carver noted the report is “worryingly reminiscent of the Cold War.”

Moscow earlier said it would be forced to take reciprocal steps to the EU lawmakers’ “unfriendly actions.” Having called the MEPs’ move “cynical,” the Russian Federation Council member on international affairs, Igor Morozov, said that European lawmakers “should be aware that their unfriendly actions” would cause a “very tough response” from Moscow.

H.M