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Russia, Islamic world need to cooperate to prevent information wars — Foreign Ministry

According to Alexander Bikantov, the Foreign Ministry is convinced that Moscow and the Muslim world are objectively interested in preventing information wars and strengthening information multipolarity

KAZAN, July 29. /TASS/. Russia and the countries of the Islamic world are interested in preventing information wars and weakening the West’s information monopoly, while cooperation between the parties must be given proper media support, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department Alexander Bikantov said at an economic summit "Russia-Islamic World: KazanSummit 2021."

"The Foreign Ministry is convinced that Moscow and the Muslim world are objectively interested in preventing information wars and strengthening information multipolarity," he said. "We are in favor of weakening Western countries’ monopoly, we are opposed to dictating one’s own terms, we are in favor of ensuring free access to information."

According to Bikantov, the joint tasks for Russia and the Islamic world are the fight against fake news and disinformation, "breaking imposed stereotypes and attempts to discredit individual countries and entire peoples on a religious or value basis." "Russia and the Muslim world are united in their perception of the most dangerous information challenges and threats facing humanity," he stressed.

At the same time, it is essential to provide the proper media support to the cooperation process, he added. According to Bikantov, the exchange of media products and programs, the creation of joint news programs and the exchange of experience of working on the Internet and the blogosphere are among the ways of doing so.

The 12th international economic summit "Russia-Islamic World: KazanSummit 2021" is being held on July 28-30. Delegates from 48 countries and 25 Russian regions are taking part in the event. The summit is aimed at facilitating cooperation between Russia and the members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the economic, political and cultural spheres.