Brazilian government prevented journalists from asking questions to Lavrov

Brazilian journalists were kept ten meters away and prevented from asking questions to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his visit to Brazil on Monday (17). The Russian gave an uncontested speech, in which he spread false information and tried to curry favor with the Brazilian government with the promise of an unlikely permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Lavrov made a statement in an auditorium at the Itamaraty Palace. The Chancellor took a position on the stage, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira. In the front rows were members of Lavrov’s entourage, which included more than a dozen FSB agents, Federal Security Service (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), body originating from the former KGB.

Then the press cameramen were positioned, forming an unusual barrier for this type of event. Only last were the journalists placed. A palace official said he would not be allowed to ask the Russian questions. The penalty would be no longer being able to access interviews and future events at Itamaraty. The folder’s press office has the custom of choosing only a few journalists who receive access credentials.

The practice of authorities making pronouncements to the press, without the possibility of questions, sometimes occurs in Brazil. Press professionals use common sense to handle each situation.

In Lavrov’s case, the impossibility of questioning imposed by Itamaraty harmed the work of the free press. The chancellor is a representative of a nation that militarily invaded a neighboring country without having suffered any attack. But he said the Kremlin was working to create “a fairer and more just world order based on law”.

Lavrov also lied when he tried to justify the invasion by saying that Ukrainians were burning books in Russian, in an alleged attempt to erase Russian culture. After passing through Brazil, the chancellor has an agenda in the dictatorships of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.