Foreign ministry spokeswoman dismisses DW’s claims they never met with Russian diplomats

Maria Zakharova

MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed the statements of the German media outlet Deutsche Welle (DW) claiming that a representative of its Moscow office has never met with the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press center. The diplomat provided the details of the meeting in a post on Facebook on Thursday.

"Exactly a month ago, on October 7, 2019, a meeting between Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Press Alexander Mikhailovich Bikantov with chief reporter of the Moscow office of DW Yuri Yurievich Resheto was held at the Russian Foreign Ministry," Zakharova wrote. She added that the head of the department’s office of foreign correspondents and an employee of the department were present at the meeting.

"How can DW lie so brazenly? They must be used to it," Zakharova quipped.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed that a Deutsche Welle representative had admitted that the channel behaved inappropriately while covering the unsanctioned rallies in Moscow in the summer of this year.

Deutsche Welle’s spokesperson, Christoph Jumpelt refuted the reports claiming that the company had apologized for its coverage of the Moscow protests, noting that there must have been misunderstanding.