The Diplomat
The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Spain yesterday launched a campaign on social networks against the newspaper ABC, after the newspaper refused to publish an alleged interview with the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova.
Through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, the diplomatic representation accuses ABC of censoring the publication of the alleged interview.
The newspaper explained yesterday that it requested a face-to-face interview with Zakharova, to be conducted by its correspondent in Moscow, Rafael Mañueco, but that there was no response from the Ministry until they were asked for some ideas, in the form of questions, to prepare an article by the spokesperson. ABC sent these questions and received a written interview of more than 3,000 words with the intention of publishing it in its entirety.
Having received no response to its request for a face-to-face interview, with the possibility of asking questions and cross-examination, the newspaper decided not to publish the text sent to it, which was of a markedly propagandistic nature.
The embassy’s reaction was to accuse ABC on social media of exercising censorship. In response, the newspaper, in addition to rejecting these accusations, yesterday published its version of what happened, as well as the ‘interview’ that was sent to them, in the original Russian and in its Spanish translation.
