Union slams UN for ignoring murders of Russian journalists
The Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) has asked the public to sign a petition to revise the latest UNESCO safety report on media workers. The publication has failed to carry sufficient information about Russian reporters either killed or targeted with prosecution over the past two years, the trade body complains.
Earlier this month, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay presented the organization's ‘Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity’. The publication, covering 2022 and 2023, claimed that 162 journalists, media workers, and social media producers had been killed over the indicated period. The report mentioned the killings of only two Russian media workers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
“We urge you to support this initiative and send your consent to join the appeal to UNESCO by the Russian Union of Journalists,” the professional association said in a Telegram post on Friday, in order to “fight for truth and justice in the name of the memory of the fallen colleagues.”
The petition addressed to Azoulay was published by the RUJ earlier this week. It expresses deep indignation regarding the omissions in the controversial report.
The lack of information about media professionals form Russia in the publication “raises serious questions about the objectivity and impartiality of the report’s authors, especially in light of numerous accounts of attacks, threats, and the deaths of Russian journalists and media employees,” the letter reads.
The association’s concerns are not the first criticism of the report. Moscow’s ambassador to UNESCO, Rinat Alyautdinov, had previously condemned the body for ignoring attacks on Russian journalists and the persecution of Russian media abroad..
The envoy said that at least five Russian journalists had been “assassinated” by the Kiev regime during the reporting period. He added that Moscow had earlier submitted its findings to UNESCO on the killings, but the body blatantly ignored them when preparing its report. Alyautdinov also slammed the international body for failing to mention sanctions imposed on Russian media by the West.
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 flared up in 2022.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also slammed the report, accusing UNESCO of “deliberate distortions and fact-twisting.” The diplomat also said that Moscow would not back adoption of the report unless it is carefully corrected.
RT joined the uproar by sending a letter to Azoulay that denounced the document and listed a number of incidents that had been omitted, including assassination plots against RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. RT also accused the international organization of failing to maintain neutrality when it comes to Russian media.
