Top Russian diplomat slams UNESCO head ‘accomplice in information war against truth’
Department of Research, Studies and International News 28-01-2025
Sergey Lavrov pointed to “the refusal of Madame Azoulay to abide by her mandate in the part concerning the safety of reporters, the refusal to condemn their killing”
The refusal of UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay to stick to her mandate in the situation with Russian reporters makes her an accomplice in the “information war against the truth,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“The refusal of Madame Azoulay to abide by her mandate in the part concerning the safety of reporters, the refusal to condemn their killing, makes her, in fact, an accomplice in the information war, and perhaps not only information, but a war against the truth,” he said at a meeting of the Commission for UNESCO.
According to the foreign minister, it is telling that most of the world’s majority countries have the same complaints against the UNESCO Secretariat and Azoulay personally for “neglecting its duties for many years, silencing the facts concerning the countries concerned, distorting the facts and condoning the spread of fake information.”
“The [UNESCO] secretariat has in fact alienated itself from France’s constant violation of its duties as the host country of the headquarters [of the organization] and does not react in any way to Paris’ creation of artificial obstacles to the issuance of visas to Russian employees sent to work in UNESCO,” Lavrov added.
