Right of reply by representative of the Russian Federation Mr.Fedor Strzhizhovskiy at the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly under agenda item "Questions relating to information"
Mme.President,
We should like to reply to the representative of Latvia, who has been quite eloquent about Russia's alleged "information aggression" and tried to preach to the whole world how freedom of the media should be upheld. We would like to remind the distinguished representative of Latvia that on September 28, the parliament of her country approved a new national security concept, according to which Latvian public media will be prohibited from broadcasting in Russian from January 1, 2026. In line with Riga's uncompromisingly Russophobic course, it has, in fact, placed an equality sign at the legislative level between a threat to national security and the fact that people in the country continue to speak, think and learn news in Russian.
It is indicative that such actions are being taken in a country where Russian, one of the official languages of the United Nations, is the main means of communication for 40 % of the population. The fact that this decision was adopted on the International Day of Universal Access to Information appears as a cynical mockery of Latvia's commitments to the protection of human rights.
These are the "champions" of freedom and peace who do the mentoring and try to make others embrace their cause - fortunately, with little luck.
Thank you.
