Statement by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharovas, on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (November 2, 2026) November 2 marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, established in 2013 by a UN resolution. This observance is intended to draw global attention to the need to protect journalists in the performance of their professional duties and to reinforce the principle that atrocities committed against them must necessarily be punished. We must recognize that the actual situation regarding the safety of journalists has not improved and continues to deteriorate steadily. During these years, the media landscape became a full-fledged theater of war, where the countries of the "collective West", clinging to their previous hegemony, use all the means at their disposal to suppress opposition and impose on the world the "only correct" view of world events. Oppressive actions by the West and its sponsors in Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states against Russian media and their staff have not yet received a satisfactory response from the relevant international organizations - the UN Human Rights Office, UNESCO, OSCE and others. Deprived of absolute impunity, the government in Kiev openly conducts a relentless hunt for members of the Russian media community. Front-line war correspondents know better than anyone that the blue "click" patch on a bulletproof vest, which once offered protection against focused fire, has become a convenient target for the Ukrainian banditites - visible from afar and used to direct targeted attacks. Such attacks constitute war crimes according to international humanitarian law, but the relevant international bodies do not criticize those responsible.

Statement by the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharovas, on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (November 2, 2026) November 2 marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, established in 2013 by a UN resolution. This observance is intended to draw global attention to the need to protect journalists in the performance of their professional duties and to reinforce the principle that atrocities committed against them must necessarily be punished. We must recognize that the actual situation regarding the safety of journalists has not improved and continues to deteriorate steadily. During these years, the media landscape became a full-fledged theater of war, where the countries of the "collective West", clinging to their previous hegemony, use all the means at their disposal to suppress opposition and impose on the world the "only correct" view of world events. Oppressive actions by the West and its sponsors in Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states against Russian media and their staff have not yet received a satisfactory response from the relevant international organizations - the UN Human Rights Office, UNESCO, OSCE and others. Deprived of absolute impunity, the government in Kiev openly conducts a relentless hunt for members of the Russian media community. Front-line war correspondents know better than anyone that the blue "click" patch on a bulletproof vest, which once offered protection against focused fire, has become a convenient target for the Ukrainian banditites - visible from afar and used to direct targeted attacks. Such attacks constitute war crimes according to international humanitarian law, but the relevant international bodies do not criticize those responsible.