BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/. A petition demanding the dismissal of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung journalist Michael Martens for his remarks about Russians has been created in Germany, the text of the appeal published on the change.org platform indicated.
The initiators believe that the representative of the German media house, who at a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Vladimir Zelensky in Belgrade on August 8 spoke about "killing Russians," had "crossed the boundaries of journalistic impartiality." The petition calls on the management of FAZ to distance itself from the journalist's statements and to take personnel measures, as Martens, by his words, "damages the reputation of the entire profession." It is noted that the reporter himself, on his account on social network X, not only did not retract his statements but doubled down, calling them correct and necessary.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that representatives of the "civilized" West had met Martens' anti-Russian remarks with "deafening silence." His grandfather was a Nazi officer. According to Zakharova, "Martens is a true fascist propagandist who spreads xenophobia, dehumanization of Russians, and legitimization of hate speech against Russia."