Russian journalists have been denied access to a UN session in Paris on media freedom, Moscow's delegation to UNESCO has claimed. On Friday, the UN cultural body presented a report on killings of journalists, which was criticized by Moscow for ignoring the murders of Russian journalists by Ukraine.
UNESCO reportedly refused accreditation for Russian journalists to attend the panel or to enter the organization’s headquarters in the French capital, which was held by the International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC), the Russian delegation said in a post on Telegram on Friday.
The refusal came despite IPDC rules stating that meetings are open to the public and that no bans on visiting UNESCO are in place, the delegation noted.
“Under pressure from the ‘Collective West’, the UNESCO Secretariat led by the Frenchwoman [Audrey] Azoulay only pays lip service to freedom of speech, while restricting the rights of journalists,” the statement read.
The Russian delegation demanded that the UNESCO Secretariat “strictly abide” by its obligation “not to seek or receive instructions from any government or agency,” it added.
At the session, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay presented the report titled ‘Journalists at the frontlines of crises and emergencies’. The publication proposes to be a biannual document that analyzes the global state of journalist safety and levels of impunity for crimes committed against them in 2022 and 2023.
The report finds that 162 journalists, media workers, and social media producers were killed in 2022-23, a 38% increase from 2020-2021, states the report.
After the draft report was released earlier this month, Russia accused UNESCO of failing to include deadly Ukrainian attacks on Russian journalists that have taken place during the reporting period.
The report mentioned the killings of only two Russian media workers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. UNESCO, however, was notified via diplomatic channels about five such cases, the country’s ambassador to the organization, Rinat Alyautdinov, has stated.
Earlier this week, RT sent a letter to Azoulay accusing UNESCO of failing to maintain neutrality when it comes to Russian media.
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated that at least 30 Russian journalists had been killed in the line of duty since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022.