Macron denied Russian media a presence at his pre-election events
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron excludes the possibility of the presence of journalists from Russian state-run media Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik at his pre-election events. A spokesman from the headquarters of the leader of the independent movement "En Marche!" (“Forward!”) announced this on Friday, April 28.
According to the spokesman, the reason for this decision is that the Kremlin-funded television channel and the news agency disseminate "false information" about the candidate and have set out to undermine his position on the eve of the second round of presidential elections, scheduled for May 7.
On April 23 - the day of the first round of voting in France - RT, Sputnik and the video agency Ruptly, a part of the Russia Today television company based in Berlin, reported that they were denied accreditation by Macron’s electoral headquarters. The official spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, called the position of the French side "blatant". In her opinion, it is "targeted and undisguised discrimination against Russian media."
Earlier, the chief assistant to French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, Richard Ferrand, accused Moscow of pursuing a purposeful campaign to discredit Macron with fake news in connection with the pro-European position of the candidate.
According to the publication Politico, when the forecasts began to predict the victory of Macron over the contender from the extreme right "National Front", Marin Le Pen, in the second round of the presidential elections, Russia Today and Sputnik increased the volumes of negative information about the pro-European candidate, continuing to campaign for the head of the "National Front".