MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Paris' refusal to allow some Russian journalists to cover the Olympic Games because of alleged espionage is paranoia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
"This is real paranoia. When they say they're not letting journalists in to cover an event where thousands of other journalists will be present, that's paranoia, I think," she pointed out.
According to Zakharova, Paris is "literally copying" Washington's behavior when several years ago, during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to the US, which was covered by both foreign and Russian media, the US government launched an entire information campaign, claiming that a Russian journalist was "a spy who brought some secret equipment and tried to find out something, conducting an intelligence operation right in the Oval Office."
Commenting on the obstacles to the Russian media, the diplomat noted that such actions by Paris are just hypocrisy. "We remember how many summits were held, including to discuss this issue. Paris pretended that it was literally the flagship at the forefront of the movement to protect freedom of speech and freedom of journalists," she emphasized. "It turns out that in fact everything is different. Russian journalists, although invited to official events, were also not allowed, i.e. they received invitations, but they were not physically permitted to go there," the spokeswoman explained.
She also recalled the persecution and pressure on the Russian media in France. "They literally held harassment and information campaigns to discredit Russian journalists in the French media environment," she said. "That is, it proves that Paris is not committed to its obligations and literally treats them as worthless," she concluded.
The ban
On July 20, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche that some Russian journalists had been denied coverage of the Olympic Games.
According to Darmanin, out of 960,000 dossiers examined by special services, 4,340 people were denied admission to work at the Olympic Games 2024 and the opportunity to attend events related to the Games. This includes both volunteers and stadium workers, as well as members of sports delegations. In response to a question on whether any "spies" were found, the minister said that there were less than a hundred of them.