President Obama with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk of Ukraine The White House press service's refusal to allow Russian journalists to attend a March 12 press conference of US President Barack Obama and acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is unacceptable, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a commentary, The Voice of Russia reported.
"In our opinion, the refusal to ban Russian journalists from this press conference is unacceptable and discriminatory," he said.
"It appears that Washington that so much likes arguing about the freedom of speech and journalists' rights is unprepared to follow these principles, instead preferring to deal with only "tried-and-tested" media outlets that distribute "desirable" information," Lukashevich said.
"Obviously, the White House does not want to hear biting questions that do not fit into the earlier written scenario concerning, for example, crimes committed by neo-Nazis from the Right Sector who stand behind Yatsenyuk's "government"," he said.
Refusal to allow Russian journalists at Obama-Yatsenuk conference is 'unacceptable, discriminatory' - Moscow
Russia accused the United States on Friday of "unacceptable" discrimination against Russian journalists by barring them from a news conference given by President Barack Obama and Ukraine's prime minister.
"It seems that in Washington, where they so love to talk about freedom of speech and journalists' rights, they are not ready to follow these principles themselves, preferring to deal only with 'approved' media propagating the 'required' information," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Source: MENA