MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay is a key accomplice in the Western media campaign against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"UNESCO Director General Azoulay is a direct accomplice in the media war against the Russian Federation, and, in essence, against the truth," Russia’s top diplomat stated.
Report on the safety of journalists
The two-day session of the International Program for the Development of Communication, held on November 21 and 22 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, discussed a wide range of issues related to media work, including the safety of journalists. The session included a report by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity for 2022-2023.
According to the document presented at the session, between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023, 162 media workers were killed worldwide, including 72 in conflict zones. The annex to the report, which lists the cases of journalists killed by country, states that 14 media workers were killed in Ukraine in 2022-2023, with only one Russian - Rostislav Zhuravlev - allegedly killed, in connection with whose death the UNESCO Director General expressed "regret" in an official statement.