The harassment of Russian journalists in the US, Europe and Ukraine has reached “a massive scale,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. Moscow never wanted to take any measures that would affect journalistic freedoms, but Washington and its allies leave Russia with no choice but to reciprocate, the minister told reporters during a joint press conference with Venezuela’s top diplomat, Carlos Faria.
Russia is interested in ending this “war on journalists,” Lavrov said, adding that the Western nations apparently cannot stop it without “losing face.” Moscow cannot just stand idly by given the pressure its journalists are facing, especially since the persecution has reached a scale “that is impossible to bear any longer,” he argued.