Four Russian journalists have had their accreditation for the Olympic Games revoked

The French authorities have revoked the accreditations of four Russian journalists who worked at the Olympics in Paris, according to the state news agency TASS, with which the employees who were deprived of their accreditation worked.

“Before issuing accreditation for the Olympics, we must obtain approval from the authorities, who will conduct a security check. The organizer is obliged to revoke the accreditation of those who do not pass the security check.”the Olympic organizers told BILD.

According to TASS, all four correspondents were already in Paris. One of the reporters, Artem Kuznetsov, was even present at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. His colleagues worked in the halls and stadiums during the competitions. The Olympic organizing committee refrained from commenting on why Russian journalists were initially allowed to work at the Olympics in Paris.

Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed revocation of accreditation of four correspondents TASSThe news agency itself added that the revocation of accreditation came as a “complete surprise.”

“The deprivation of TASS journalists of Olympic accreditations is an attempt by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to hide objective information, an unwillingness to hear the truth,” TThis opinion was expressed to TASS by the former Minister of Sports of Russia, Olympic champion in epee fencing, Pavel Kolobkov.

“What happened shows that the French organizers and the IOC really do not want to hear the truth, do not want objective coverage of the Olympics and are trying to hide their mistakes as much as possible,” Kolobkov said. “And TASS sports journalists have always professionally covered the Olympic Games. I would like to note that any application for accreditation is submitted in advance, several months before the start of the Games. Of course, our journalists have gone through all of this, including strict checks, and in relation to Russian journalists they were even stricter than usual. Therefore, this is really an attempt to hide truly objective information. I dare to suggest that this revocation of accreditations is nothing more than an act of censorship and obstruction of the legitimate activities of journalists.”.

Due to the invasion of Ukrainian territory, only 15 Russian athletes are participating in the Paris Olympics under a neutral flag. The Russian national anthem will not be played during their performances. In addition, Russian athletes who are allowed to participate in the Olympics must not have any connection to the army or security forces and must not actively support the war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told TASS that respecting the rights of journalists and ensuring freedom of speech is an empty phrase for French President Emmanuel Macron.

Source link