MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Moscow urges the French authorities to treat the Russian media in the same way as French journalists are treated in Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian side pointed out to the French ambassador that discriminatory actions against the Russian media "are in line with the political campaign against dissent, which was launched in France long before the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine." "In this connection, the French ambassador was asked to convey to the country's authorities to stop pressure and discriminatory actions against undesirable media, to stop labeling them and to observe the same regime with regard to Russian media that French journalists enjoy in Russia," the Foreign Ministry said.

The French ambassador was also strongly protested "over the discriminatory and blatantly Russophobic actions of the representatives of the French authorities against the reporters of RIA Novosti and the editor-in-chief of Russia News at the G20 summit in New Delhi, who were rudely denied admission to the press conference of French President [Emmanuel] Macron."

According to the ministry, the Russian side gave "principled assessments of the unfriendly acts of Paris, which blatantly violate the fundamental principle of freedom of the press and prevent its representatives from doing their work."

"The refusal of the French organizers to apologize for their actions, including the attempt to confiscate the phones of Russian journalists, which were used to film this ugly incident, once again testifies to the firm intention of Paris to adhere to the regime of segregation in relation to the Russian media," the ministry pointed out.