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Russia to raise issue of journalists’ access to info at OSCE ministerial meeting — Lavrov

The ministerial meeting will take place in Milan on December 6-7

MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. At the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia will suggest confirming the right of all media workers to have unimpeded access to information, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

In a conversation with Russia Today France and Sputnik France in Paris on Tuesday, Lavrov said the ministerial meeting will take place in Milan on December 6-7.

"We will come up with several initiatives. One of them is to confirm word-for-word our commitments made during the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in 1990," reads the transcript of the meeting, posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website. "At that time, we made an obligation to ensure that media outlets and the public have unimpeded access to information."

Russia’s top diplomat added that he had earlier discussed the matter with his French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian, adding that Moscow would not take retaliatory measures against French journalists. "We are polite people," Lavrov added.

Elysee Palace has repeatedly denied registration to journalists of Russia Today and Sputnik, accusing them of disseminating "fake news." In October, the French government’s official spokesman, Benjamin Griveaux, said RT and Sputnik were engaged in propaganda activities, and, therefore, their employees cannot be considered journalists. The announcement triggered an extremely negative reaction from Moscow.