On December 16, a meeting was held between Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, and heads of media agencies, journalists and leading information specialists from Russia and Muslim countries as part of the International Conference ‘Russia – Islamic World: Practical Steps in Media Cooperation’.
Participants include Mohammed Ar-Rayssi, Executive Director of the WAM Emirates News Agency; Bora Bayraktar, Director of the TRT World Turkish TV channel; Mohamed Beshari, Secretary General of the World Council of Muslim Communities; Samir Gaid, Director General of the Algerian News Agency; Nasser Akhdar, Deputy Secretary General of the Islamic Radio and Television Union; Mudar Al-Bakaa, Director and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Gadir TV (Iraq); Maya Manna, Head of the RT TV channel and others.
The moderator is Anna Belikova, Chief Specialist of Russia Today’s External Communications Service, and Counselor of the Group of Strategic Vision ‘Russia – Islamic World’.
The development of Russia’s foreign policy under unprecedented political, economic and information pressure from the UN on Russia, the influence of the media on public opinion, cultural and civilizational dialogue and aspects of cooperation between representatives of journalistic community, media structure of Russia and Muslim countries in the information sphere – these and other issues were the topics of discussion at the meeting.
During the event, journalists discussed a wide range of topical issues related to the special operation in Ukraine, the information war waged by European mass media against Russia, the possibility of supporting Russia in transmitting truthful information in the reality of political pressure and intimidation from America. Also environmental issues, conspiracy theories, as well as the concept of ‘new normality’ and other issues were touched upon.
Opening the meeting, the politician noted the great potential of such meetings, which are the backbone of Russia’s comprehensive and fruitful cooperation with countries of the Muslim world on issues of international security, countering misinformation in relation to Russian foreign and domestic policies, defending the cultural and civilizational diversity of the world and strengthening friendship between peoples.
She recalled that today Islam was an integral part of Russia and that friendly dialogue and good neighborly relations had been established between the Russian Federation and countries of the Muslim world.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson went on to speak about the unipolar model of world development dominated by the United States and its Western allies.
‘The world has come to the point where those people who should be calling for harmony and love are dividing us all along ethnic and religious lines, separating us and instilling hatred in our hearts. Then what about the ordinary people? It is the position of our state not to be discredited on the grounds of nationality or religion. If you profess Orthodoxy or Judaism, you cannot be happy to see other religions humiliated in front of your eyes, thinking that this will bring you some bonuses,’ the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the statement by Pope Francis in an interview with the American media, in which the pontiff called Chechens and Buryats ‘the most brutal part of the Russian troops in Ukraine’.
‘We reacted harshly and Russia received an official statement from the Vatican apologizing for Pope Francis’ remarks to Chechens and Buryats. This incident is over. This is a good example of how to overcome crises,’ Maria Zakharova added.
The politician spoke to the guests about the Western media’s manipulation of consciousness and their tactics of substituting concepts and concealing undesirable information.
‘A heavily paid provocative story that aims to foment hatred through the falsification of concepts,’ the politician said in the context of her assessment of the Western media’s handling of the Charlie Hebdo situation.
‘I would like to say that I do not remember so many insults, unverified, false information from anyone else. I think it is part of some institution, such as the EU, NATO information structures, which work to develop certain theses, thoughts, and ideas. It is a terrible ideology on the verge of misanthropy. The phrase that the West is a beautiful garden, the rest is a jungle has become self-deprecating. Who gave him that idea? ‘They’ really think that Europeans of the first order both genetically and historically have reached such a level of development that they have the right to dominate everyone,’ Zakharova assessed the unambiguous work of European diplomatic chief Josep Borrell in response to a question from TRT World Turkish TV channel Director Bora Bayraktar about EU influence on domestic policy in Turkey.
‘The whole history of the XX century is an attempt to escape ideology through Nazism and Fascism, which ended in disaster. There is a dominant leading nation and everyone else has to obey it. Colonialism is the same ideology. In Britain, special Bibles for slaves were published in which words about love, equality, and freedom were taken out. In the same way, Turkey is given the opportunity to participate in those programs that are beneficial to Europe, but where it is beneficial Turkey is not allowed, for instance, to cooperate with Russia,’ the diplomat continued.
When asked by Yunus Inayat, Director of International Relations for Strategic Development of the Union of Information Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, about possible steps to enhance cooperation with the Islamic world, Zakharova replied that it was important to keep the world stable in the face of a shifting international space and find common ground in difficult situations.
She also urged media representatives to consider the issue of cooperation in a slightly deeper way to restart a lot of negative global processes. It is important ‘to analyze how we will globally build new global realities, basic approaches to the most important things,’ Maria Zakharova concluded the meeting.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"