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BBC’s accusations of publishing reporters’ data absurd - Russian Foreign Ministry

The ministry perceived the first speculations with the accusations as an unfortunate joke

© Ilya Dmitryachev/TASS

MOSCOW, December 30. /TASS/. BBC’s accusations aimed at the Russian Foreign Ministry claiming that the ministry published the personal data of BBC correspondents in the media are absurd, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Sunday.

"When the first speculations with the accusations aimed at the Russian Foreign Ministry appeared, claiming that it has provided personal data of the reporters from the BBC Moscow Bureau to the media (and the BBC correspondents have stated it clearly), we perceived them as an unfortunate joke, due to their obvious absurdity," the message by the ministry states.

On Saturday, the BBC announced on its website that it has lodged an official complaint to the Russian Foreign Ministry due to a publication of a list of employees of the Moscow office of the BBC at the news and entertainment portal Pikabu. A number of Russian mass media carried similar reports quoting the original source. The BBC claimed that this information was only available to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

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