Western media 'limiting freedom of speech' - Maduro
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has called the West's policy toward Russia "pure fascism" because the West decided to ‘cartelize’ the media and news agenda.
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President Nicolas Maduro (Reuters)
On Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the West of controlling media and limiting freedom of speech in what he described as "pure fascism."
"With the conflict in Ukraine, we see how the West decided to shrink the space of freedom, how the West decided to ‘cartelize’ the media and news agenda, how the West decided to construct a history of war that justifies the unjustifiable in Ukrainian scenarios and possible escalation in world conflicts," he said, calling the West's policy toward Russia "pure fascism."
According to Maduro, it has become difficult for him to get an objective view of the events in the world following the censorship on YouTube and Facebook - now banned in Russia -, where Russian media outlets such as Sputnik and RT, have been blocked.
Read more: West carrying out massive propaganda to portray Russia as enemy: US activist
On March 1, and as part of the campaign of sanctions against Russia after its military operation in Ukraine, Google Europe blocked Youtube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe "effective immediately."
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine, responding to calls from the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk for help in countering the aggression of Ukrainian forces, which has been ongoing since 2014.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger.
A couple of days before launching the operation, Putin had recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics after weeks of escalating shelling, mortar, sniper, and sabotage attacks by Ukrainian armed forces and ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups in the Donbass region.
Russia had for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.
