MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. Impunity for killing journalists and staging terror attacks on them pushes the Kiev regime to commit more crime, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
"The West believes in its exceptionalism and unaccountability, and goes as far as allow its puppets in Kiev to step up these activities by encouraging its terrorist actions. This sense of impunity for killing journalists and carrying out terrorist attacks against them has prompted the Kiev regime to perpetrate more bloody crimes with the backing of its Western curators," she stated.
"Those tasked with ensuring that journalists stay safe and have a mandate to respond to any reported attacks against media professionals bear their share of responsibility for these atrocities. However, multilateral human rights structures such as the UNOHCHR, the UNESCO Secretariat, the OSCE and other entities have been camping on politically biased positions by intentionally turning a blind eye to the violent deaths of media representatives and sparing those responsible, this way ruining the very idea of the universal principle of ending impunity and turning such institution into dysfunctional and useless structures," Zakharova pointed out.
According to the Russian diplomat, discrepancies in the UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity for 2022-2023, published in December 2024 undermined its reputation as a reliable source of information in this area. "We do hope that with the upcoming appointment of a new leader, UNESCO will be able to step up its efforts in protecting the safety of journalists by reaffirming its commitment to the basic principles of working in good faith in an equidistant and impartial manner," she added.
"We reaffirm our resolve to stand up and assert the professional rights of Russian media abroad, and will be consistent in our efforts to ensure that they can work safely anywhere in the world, while ensuring that those guilty of committing crimes against Russian journalists get the punishment they deserve," she stressed.