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Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of freedom of speech and information in an address to a media summit on Saturday, in comments seen as absurd by critics of his policy of eliminating dissent.<\/p>\n
“At a time when the complicated process of multipolarity is developing, it is particularly important to protect the principles of information reliability,” Putin said in a video message to the participants of the BRICS media summit in Moscow on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of TASS state news agency.<\/p>\n
“Real freedom of speech, which reflects different opinions, enables the search for compromises and common approaches to solving the world’s problems,” Putin added.<\/p>\n
Media play a significant role in building a just world order by giving people “an objective and unadulterated picture of the world,” Putin said.<\/p>\n
However, Russians have little in the way of freedom of speech and media in the nation’s increasingly authoritarian climate.<\/p>\n
TASS Russian news agency, set up in 1904, has had a range of names and designations and is the country’s largest news agency. It is also seen as a government mouthpiece.<\/p>\n
Media outlets that do not align with the Kremlin’s statements and values have been banned and shut down and government opponents are persecuted by the judiciary.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin doubled down on critics of its war on Ukraine, launched in 2022, and many Russian groups opposed to the war have been declared undesirable organizations, for example.<\/p>\n
Once designated undesirable, the groups are in effect banned, in a move that affects media outlets and human rights organizations alike.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n