Russia’s Foreign Ministry Slams US Media: ‘Colossal Bias …Lack of Independent Thinking’CNS News, May 12, 2017, Patrick Goodenough
Russia’s foreign ministry on Thursday lashed out at the U.S. media for their coverage of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Washington this week. Instead of focusing on bilateral relations, American media outlets wanted to talk about alleged Russian interference in the U.S. election and the firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said U.S. journalists asking questions of Lavrov after an Oval Office meeting with President Trump seemed “unaware of how silly it was to ask the foreign minister of a another country about the reasons for certain personnel changes in their own country.”
“Most of the questions concerned Russia’s alleged intervention in the U.S. election and the dismissal of the FBI director,” Zakharova said.
“This indicates the colossal bias of the mass media, the lack of independent thinking and control by certain political groups,” she said.
Lavrov’s unheralded meeting with Trump Wednesday made waves because it was closed to the White House press corps while a photographer with the Russian state-owned news agency TASS was allowed in.
It was only after the Russian Embassy in Washington tweeted the TASS photos of Trump and Lavrov that most journalists and others became aware it had taken place at all.
At a news conference at the Russian Embassy after the Oval Office meeting, Lavrov fielded a number of questions about claims of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.
He seemed bemused by some of the questioning:
“I think it is demeaning for the American people to hear that the Russian Federation controls domestic politics in the U.S.A.,” Lavrov replied to one question, according to the foreign ministry translation of his words in Russian.
(“The pro-Kremlin RT television network translated the words slightly differently: “I think it’s humiliating for Americans to hear that U.S. internal politics is ruled by Russia. How is it possible for such a great nation to think this way?”)
Lavrov expressed irritation when asked several times whether Trump during their meeting had raised concerns about alleged Russian election interference.
“I spoke about concrete things with Donald Trump. None of us touched on that ‘bacchanalia,’” he said. (Dictionary definition: “a Roman festival of Bacchus celebrated with dancing, song, and revelry.”)
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