MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. The West has long enjoyed a monopoly in the media sphere, that’s why Russia's attempt to compete has caused hysteria there, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"The West has been enjoying its media monopoly for a very long time, primarily the Americans and the British," Peskov told the ATV channel (based in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
At the same time, according to the spokesman, the West distorts the objective truth, including by silencing journalists. "They [Western journalists] do not have freedom of speech. If you don't think like them, [the West] announces sanctions against you," he pointed out.
Peskov stressed that this was the reason why the Kremlin had recently stopped giving interviews to Western media. "We gave several interviews, they [the Western journalists] distorted everything, said the wrong things," the spokesman explained.