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Incident with RT reporter not discussed at Lavrov, Kerry meeting

"I think that this does not reflect US values and that this is not the US Department of State’s stance," Lavrov said.

US Department of State spokesman John Kirby EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

US Department of State spokesman John Kirby

© EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

LIMA, November 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday he decided not to discuss the incident with a reporter of Russia’s RT channel with his US counterpart John Kerry, because the Department of State official directly linked to it was not present at the meeting.

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Russian diplomat says Lavrov, Kerry to discuss US ‘shocking’ treatment of RT television

At a briefing on Wednesday, US Department of State spokesman John Kirby dismissed a question from RT in a boisterous manner, and said he was not going to put Russia Today on the same level with independent media outlets.

"John Kirby was not here today, I decided not to complain to his boss in his absence. (Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman) Maria Zakharova has already voiced her position about this unacceptable incident," Lavrov said after the meeting that took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru.

"I think that this does not reflect US values and that this is not the US Department of State’s stance," he said. "I’m not going to start my every day by criticizing Mr. Kirby."

Zakharova, who described the incident as "shocking," said Thursday the matter will be raised at the talks.

"This is an unprecedented occurrence of categorizing journalists into acceptable and unacceptable, into respected and not respected," she said, adding that if the Department of State persists in its attitude towards Russia’s RT television, US journalists will also see a different attitude at Russian Foreign Ministry briefings.

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