"World outlook totalitarianism": in Russia, commented on the publication of data of Sputnik journalists in The Sunday Times

The Sunday Times has published the names and photographs of employees of the British bureau of the Sputnik news agency, indicating the positions. The publication also contains a proposal by Scottish Parliament member Alex Cole-Hamilton to take over the assets of journalists.

“Other countries have taken a tougher stance on the assets of Russian citizens than we are in the UK. The UK government should take another look at what can be done, ”he said.

The title of the article states that the deputy considers the agency "Kremlin puppets." The article states that Moscow allegedly uses RT and Sputnik as political tools.

There is no evidence of this point of view, but the newspaper reminds that Russian journalists were among the first to publish Anonymous data on the Integrity Initiative.

“The Russian English-language news channel RT and the Internet radio station Sputnik, based in Edinburgh, were among the first to report the details of the hack that took place on November 5th. This aroused the suspicion that Russia was behind this burglary and used its media to enhance the effect of it, ”the article says. At the same time, the authors again do not explain what these “suspicions” are based on.

Recall that in November, the hacker group Anonymous posted in open access internal documents of the Integrity Initiative program, launched by the UK government, presumably in 2015.

For the £ 2 million a year allocated by the kingdom, well-known personalities and media personalities united in “clusters” supported anti-Russian rhetoric in their countries. First of all, media personnel are tasked with convincing the British of the “criminal intentions of Russia”.

“To convince the general public of the correctness of this version is a big problem. In the case of Great Britain, this is largely due to the concept of “fair play” accepted in society. For many, it simply doesn’t fit in their heads, as a leadership of such a huge, and, apparently, a civilized and cultural country like Russia could behave in this way. A special role is played by the fact that Russia, naturally, not only denies its involvement in these incidents, but also shows “readiness to assist in any investigation,” says one of the published documents.

The Sunday Times article cites the words of Institute for Statecraft employee Ben Nimmo, who received £ 2,500 a month from the Integrity Initiative. According to him, RT employees cannot be called journalists, since the “Russia Today” charter says “about providing national interests of Russia in the information sphere "

However, the representative of Sputnik noted that the statute of the IIA "Russia Today" does not apply to the agency.

“This is a contagious epidemic of“ red under the bed ”(an expression about the imaginary danger of communism during the Cold War - RT), which has swiftly engulfed the British media. Daily and false accusations are aimed at imposing real restrictions on the activities of Sputnik and legal affairs in the UK. Such distractions will not change our determination to tell the audience the unspoken, ”he said.

The pressure on Sputnik, according to his employee Joanna Ross, whose data has also been published, is related to the state of the information war being waged against Russia.

“One could expect this, because we are accustomed in the satellite that we are called“ Kremlin assistants ”,“ Putin’s girls ”- there was such an article two years ago. Unfortunately, we are now in the information war, ”she told RT.

Ross suggested that The Sunday Times article could be linked to the recent Sputnik publication on the Integrity Initiative.

“What we are doing here at Edinburgh's Sputnik is the work of journalists. We reveal some stories, naturally, that the British state doesn’t like. But in any democracy there must be freedom of the press. And it turns out that today there is no press freedom in the UK and other Western countries, ”she added.

"Happy 1933 year for you"

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and the Russia Today MIA, commented on the publication of The Sunday Times.

The Times publishes a list of names of our British journalists with photos under the heading of "Kremlin puppets." With the upcoming new nineteen thirty third year of you, May British Friends, ”wrote Simonyan in her Telegram channel.

Recall that this year Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, who at the same time issued a decree “On the protection of the people and the state”, according to which freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly were restricted.

Simonyan also recalled that in the charters of the Western media included clauses on the compliance of foreign policy of foreign countries.

"BBC:" (Channel) should reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values. " Deutsche Welle: "We use our reliability to promote the reputation of Germany." The BBG (Organization that owns Voice of America and Radio Liberty): “(Broadcast standards must) meet a wide range of US international policy objectives. Because if propaganda is registered in the charter, then it is values. And no propaganda to you, ”she added.

The Russian embassy in the UK compared the publication of The Sunday Times with the actions of the Ukrainian portal Peacemaker, which publishes personal data of those who disagree with the official Ukrainian position.

"We believe that the publication of personal data of journalists in the" best traditions "of the Kiev peacemaker’s odious website, calls for confiscation of media assets should also attract the attention of the OSCE," said the spokesman for the diplomatic mission.

Recall that the Ukrainian journalist Oles Buzin and politician Oleg Kalashnikov were killed shortly after the publication of their data, including addresses, on the site “Peacemaker”.

The fact that the publication of the personal data of journalists by The Sunday Times newspaper could pose a threat to the lives of journalists, said Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Matvienko.

“This is an interference with the privacy of journalists,” she said.

The Sunday Times newspaper violated journalistic norms and thereby refuted the myth of an unbiased Western press, said Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of the committee of the Federation Council on international affairs.

“What is this publication for? Why is personal data disclosed? The whole legend about the Western neutral, independent press, which we were fed for dozens of years by the very same Western ideologists, turned out to be a bluff to check, ”he told RT.

In his opinion, such pressure on RT and Sputnik is due to the fact that these media provide an alternative point of view to Western readers.

“If they had seen that the information given by these two media is uninteresting, false, they would not even pay attention, they would laugh like a yellow press ... They are afraid of this truth, they are terribly afraid,” he stressed.

"Engage in fighting rivals"

The publication of journalists' personal data is taking place in the framework of the fight against alternative points of view, the director of the Center for Geopolitical Expertise Valery Korovin is convinced.

“Intolerance, absolute ideological and ideological totalitarianism. And the harsh reprisal of dissent, be it religious dissent of the Middle Ages, Soviet-era ideological dissent, or a geopolitically different position of the present, ”he said in a conversation with RT.

What is happening in relation to journalists Sputnik in the UK can be described as part of the information and hybrid war of the United Kingdom against Russia, said Igor Shatrov, deputy director of the National Institute for the Development of Modern Ideology.

“Nobody has been following any democratic norms, procedures and rules adopted in a decent society in the UK for Russia for a long time. And The Times is all the more so. They are engaged in the struggle with competitors, which give other information to listeners and provide an opportunity to see a more objective picture of the world, ”he said RT.

SS view

Recall, on December 20, Ofcom, a British media regulator, stated that RT TV channel allegedly violated the broadcast code. Margarita Simonyan, commenting on these “violations”, noted their inconsistency.

“Just to make you understand the level of delirium. The first. British Ofcom believes that RT violated the laws of broadcasting because they broadcast and "did not question" the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense for Syria, ”she wrote in her Telegram channel.

In addition, stressed Simonyan, the British media regulator demanded to provide an "alternative point of view" in the material about the Ukrainian children's competition in honor of the SS division "Galicia".

“And we also talked about the children's drawing competition in honor of the SS division“ Galicia ”and“ did not provide an alternative point of view. ” That is, I suppose, the point of view of the SS. I am not joking, ”she added.

Incom responding to these actions against RT, Roskomnadzor initiated a BBC World News review. A spokesman for the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stressed that the British BBC "had many questions accumulated over a long time."

"In Moscow, various departments repeatedly raised questions regarding specific materials, specific episodes with coverage of events related to the Russian Federation, with coverage of what is happening in Syria and within Russia," said Peskov.