Russia engaged in media war with West: Putin's spokesman

Russia is at war with “Anglo-Saxon” media outlets who have been constantly tarnishing Moscow’s international image, says the spokesman of Russian President Valdimir Putin.

Dmitry Peskov made the remarks during a Saturday interview with Russia’s TVC network, adding, “They say that Russia has a bad public image. Do you know who else now has a bad image? The United States. We are currently in a state of information warfare with the trend-setters in the information space, most notably with the Anglo-Saxons, their media,” Putin’s spokesman stated.

No matter if declared or not, the information war reduces some important political matters to “propaganda and counter-propaganda,” Peskov said.

He argued that deeper integration in the global economy would help Russia overcome the problem more easily.

"We need to advocate for it. We need to make our economy more competitive and involved in global competition. Only then will we confidently stand on our feet,” he said.

Russia’s military and energy sectors, the Russian economy’s two major strengths, are currently faced with harsh sanctions by the US and the European Union, over Moscow’s alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis.

According to Peskov, there has been some progress in US-Russian ties but the Kremlin does not have any “illusions.”

“At least now the understanding has matured that there is no alternative to dialogue in resolving issues which cannot be delayed,” he said.

Turkey-Russia rift ‘handmade disaster’

Peskov blamed Ankara for the ongoing deadlock in relations with Moscow, and slammed his Turkish counterpart for mishandling the situation following Turkey’s downing of a Russian bomber jet over Syria.

“If I held that office and things had gone the way they went, I would have resigned. Six months ago our relations with Turkey could be called exemplary. Then this disaster happened, and that disaster was handmade. Ankara was its author, and only it can control the damage,” Peskov said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his spokesman and chief adviser Ibrahim Kalin have both refused to apologize for targeting a Russian Su-24 aircraft in November last year, which killed one of its pilots.

“I believe that the fallout from this disaster will not be fully cleared up for generations to come.” Peskov said, noting that at the moment, Russia simply won’t talk to Turkey.

The official also ruled out the possibility of mediating efforts to bear any result, saying that “any attempts to mediate this situation can’t but fail for obvious reasons.”

Azerbaijan is known to have offered to play the role of mediator between the two countries.

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