The ban on a number of Russian media in Europe should be considered a defense of freedom of speech, said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
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“By doing this, we are not attacking freedom of speech, but protecting it,” he said, speaking at a conference on combating disinformation, which is taking place in Brussels.
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In his opinion, the European Union “should act more ambitiously in this matter, strengthening its stability.” Borrell also recalled that the EU Foreign Service already has mechanisms in place to detect disinformation.
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“But today I have a feeling that we are not doing enough, we need to move forward. We need to understand how these campaigns were organized, to identify actors, sources of distribution,” he said.
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At the present stage, the manipulation of information has acquired new features, summed up the head of European diplomacy.
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The situation with the Russian media in the West has become increasingly difficult in recent years. In November 2016, the European Parliament adopted a resolution stating the need to counter publications, with Sputnik and RT named as the main threats in the document.
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A number of Western politicians, including US senators and congressmen, accused journalists of interfering in the elections in the US and France, but did not provide any evidence.
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Official Russian representatives called such statements unfounded.
