RSF director urges accountability for spreaders of Russian propaganda

Thibaut Bruttin, director general of the international NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has called for the exposure and prosecution of accomplices of Russian propaganda.

He made these remarks in a comment to Ukrinform.

In the fight against Russian propaganda, Bruttin emphasized the importance of raising public awareness about identifying sources of disinformation.

"We need to expose the people, understand the narratives, understand the budget. We should revert the logic. We should not lose time with them. We should go after them," he said.

He added that he hopes to hold accountable, at national and international levels, "the leaders of the Russian Federation, which have deliberately implemented a [disinformation] strategy."

"And I hope that one day, we will get accountability at the national level, but maybe at the international level. But the leaders of propaganda – [Vladimir] Solovyov, [Margarita] Simonyan, and the middlemen – [must also be prosecuted]," Bruttin said.

He stressed that these people bear great responsibility for the destruction of Ukraine, for enabling aggression and war, and for attempts to reduce support for democracy in Europe.

He noted that "Russian war correspondents" are merely instruments of propaganda and "are not journalists."

"Our organization is demanding in this vision of what journalism is. We support independent journalism. We support people that detach themselves from the military narratives," Bruttin said.

"It is important to say that Russia is putting pressure at the international level to try and list people from RT, people from Sputnik among journalists killed in action, which we resent, we oppose," he added.

Ukrinform reported earlier that during the full-scale war, Russia has committed 868 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine.