German counterintelligence published a report in which it accused Russia, without evidence, of propaganda and the negative influence of Russian media on German public opinion.
Official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova announced this during a briefing, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We saw a published report prepared by German counterintelligence, which contains a number of accusations against Russia. And, in addition to the assertion that Russian special services are allegedly actively conducting espionage on German territory, in particular, a large section in the document is devoted to the influence of Russian media on German public opinion.
For example, the Sputnik news agency and the Russia Today Deutsch TV channel are accused of spreading propaganda and disinformation.
It is noted that the Russian state is increasing its ideological presence in Germany.
It seems to me that in the same report it would be possible to note how Germany is increasing its information presence both in the world and in Russia, and increasing the budgets of its media, which are subsidized by the state, but apparently there was no time for this,” – Zakharova was indignant.
She emphasized that the content of this report repeats the rhetoric of the Union of Journalists of the Federal Republic of Germany, which has been harassing Russian information resources in Germany for the last year.
“The report states that Russian state-owned companies are allegedly masquerading as independent media in order to disguise their affiliation with the Russian state and subtly influence the public. The report is filled with such categorical statements, which coincide with the opinion of the German Union of Journalists. A very interesting coincidence, even the same expressions were used. It seems that the German Union of Journalists, which attacked the mentioned Russian media for a year, used German counterintelligence guidelines.
All these statements are made in the report without any evidence or facts being provided. All statements and accusations are made without evidence. The conclusions are clear,” added the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Also, in her opinion, German journalists and counterintelligence are simply echoing their British colleagues, repeating their unsubstantiated accusations.
“For example, the reaction of the Russian media to London’s numerous insinuations around the Skripal case is called the “International Russian Campaign.” Who started this campaign? Who spoke in the British Parliament? Who supplies the British media every day with leaks from British official and government institutions and bodies? Russian media? Maybe the Russian Foreign Ministry? Or Russian intelligence services? Of course not. This campaign is British, but for some reason the report calls it Russian,” Zakharova concluded.