WASHINGTON, August 12. /TASS/. The US gags anyone who dares to speak out against its official policy, according to a statement released by the Russian embassy in Washington via its Telegram channel on Friday.

"Where is the widely-publicized American freedom of expression? US guardians of democratic values are eager to lecture other countries, criticizing them for suppressing dissent and violating the rights of journalists. However, they gag anyone who dares to speak out against an official policy of Washington," the diplomats said when commenting on Scott Ritter, a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and former UN Special Commission inspector who regularly criticizes his country’s policy in the Middle East and its actions regarding Ukraine, being blocked on YouTube.

"It is not the first time that global social networks have discriminated against the fighter for freedom of speech," they said, adding that "Twitter used to do the same to him."

"Amid the well-coordinated Russophobes’ choir in the United States, Mr. Ritter is one of the few who try to give an alternative point of view on international issues, provide the audience with an objective opinion about Russia and the special military operation. He is not afraid of deviating from Washington's manuals and opposing the local propaganda. Purging the information field of persona non grata is yet another manifestation of the double standards cultivated by the United States," the embassy noted.