Rossiya Segodnya is outraged by The Economist editor's recent call to boycott employees of RT, as well as Sputnik radio.
International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya is outraged by The Economist editor Edward Lucas' recent call to boycott employees of RT, as well as Sputnik radio.
Speaking at the panel discussion on Ukraine during the Munich Security Conference, The Economist's senior editor Edward Lucas called for a boycott of RT and Sputnik, a part of Rossiya Segodnya.
According to Lucas, the two news outlets and their employees must be "humiliated" till they are "no longer treated as real journalists and real programs but as cranks and propagandists."
The editor also stated that working at RT was the "last stage on a career ladder", and if he ever was to receive a CV from someone who worked for one of the two companies, it would go "into the bin and not into the intro."
However, people are "avidly" watching RT as they believe that mainstream media is not telling the truth, Lucas admitted.
According to Rossiya Segodnya's Director General Dmitry Kiselev, Lucas' statements can be considered "threats against colleagues."
"It sounded insane – shutting someone's mouths, and even promising to turn journalists to outcasts, and all this because someone allows themselves to express opinions that differ from Lucas'," Kiselev said.
The Director General noted that Lucas was making his statements "sitting comfortably in the halls of Munich", while RT and Rossiya Segodnya reporters were out in the field, covering armed conflicts.
Kiselev noted that this was not the first anti-Russia remark Lucas made.
"A long time ago Lucas said that 'Putin's days were numbered,' but after that Putin won the first round of the presidential elections, and presently all is well with people's support of the president of Russia. Lucas was predicting complete failure for the Olympic Games in Sochi, but they went impeccably, and we won on all counts," the head of Rossiya Segodnya said.
Kiselev also noted that Lucas' book criticizing Kremlin's politics was published and translated into Russian, in spite of his claims that there was no free speech in the country.
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