SOCHI, May 3. /TASS/. The Russian Civic Chamber has invited the members of the Reporters Without Borders non-profit organization based in Paris to visit the September elections in Russia’s new regions, a senior politician told TASS on Wednesday.

"Russia’s Civic Chamber now invites Reporters Without Borders to cover the elections which will take place on September 10. We want them to see in person our polling day," Alexander Malkevich, first deputy chairman of the Commission for the Development of the Information Society, Mass Media and Mass Communications of the Russian Civic Chamber and advisor to the acting head of the Kherson Region, said.

He pointed out that on the World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3, a congress dedicated to the freedom of speech was traditionally held. "This time it was held at the UN in New York, that’s why no one let us into the US, they refused us. Traditionally, on this day Reporters Without Borders publish their ‘fake’ Press Freedom ranking. Over the year, we have been moved from the 155th place to the 165th out of 180."

"The situation in the new regions is a marker that shows what the Russian media tells about the positions of the West and Ukraine. Western and Ukrainian media are forbidden from covering the position of our country, as well as the event unfolding in the Donbass, in the country’s new regions. The West, with the help of Reporters Without Borders, which silenced everything, did its best to block the access of its audience to the Russian voice, to truth and common sense. Our media is blocked, and the so-called pro-Russian objective speakers are put on stop-lists," Malkevich said.

Russia’s polling day will be held on September 10. Elections of heads of subjects and territories will be held in over 20 regions. For the first time ever, election campaigns are to be held in the Donetsk and the Lugansk People's Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.