MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. Over 100 news bureaus from unfriendly countries are accredited with the Russian Foreign Ministry and no one interferes with their work, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
"More than 100 media bureaus from unfriendly countries are accredited with the [Russian] Foreign Ministry. We don’t restrict their activities: they can join briefings remotely, and they can take part in the press conferences of the foreign ministers and deputy foreign ministers," the diplomat stressed.
"We usually have various journalists at our briefings; even today, people from various countries and media outlets are present here, including those who sometimes get included in the 'fake news' category," she added.
According to Zakharova, every day, the Russian Foreign Ministry answers hundreds of requests from Western media outlets, particularly online. "I can see that many of them are either actually banned to attend Russian government agencies’ events in person or have to receive permission for that. Clearly, in 2022, they were given orders and instructions <...> to make it seem that they have left our information space," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman explained.