Putin accuses West of persecuting Russian journalists

(Reuters) – The West is openly persecuting Russian journalists, President Vladimir Putin said in comments published on Monday, days after Moscow banned dozens of U.S. journalists from entering the country.

“In order to hide from disturbing facts, from truthful information, the West, which considers itself the standard of freedom, has launched an open persecution against Russian correspondents,” Putin told the Mongolian newspaper Onoodor on the eve of his visit to the country, according to a transcript provided on the Kremlin’s website.

His remarks come after Moscow announced on Wednesday that it was barring 92 U.S. citizens, including journalists, lawyers and the heads of what it called major military-industrial companies, from entering Russia because of what it described as Washington’s Russophobic stance.

They also follow years of Kremlin crackdowns on independent media and Moscow’s swift blocking of dissenting voices in Russian-language media at the start of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Putin said that in Russia the media is free.

“The only requirement imposed on them is compliance with Russian legislation,” he said. “Foreign correspondents accredited in our country must understand this.”

Russia has often accused Western countries of imposing unfair restrictions on its media abroad, including banning some state-backed outlets.

Putin told the Mongolian newspaper that Russian journalists face “direct censorship” in almost every Western country.

“The only thing our media do is to convincingly convey the Russian point of view on current modern problems and processes taking place in the world,” Putin said.

In May, Russian lawmakers passed a bill giving prosecutors the power to shut down foreign media offices in Moscow if a Western country has been “hostile” toward Russian media.

Washington has imposed sanctions on some Russian state television channels, accused of spreading disinformation to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)