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Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin hands over flowers to the editor of Russian broadcaster RT Margarita Simonyan at a prize-giving ceremony in May
Russian news agencies RT and Sputnik were banned from attending a conference on media freedom in London for playing an "active role in spreading misinformation".
About 60 ministers and 1,000 journalists and members of civil society are expected to attend the event this week.
But the British Foreign Ministry refused the accreditation of RT and Sputnik.
The Russian Embbady has described the decision as "direct discrimination for political reasons".
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office, who organized the conference, said: "We have neither accredited RT nor Sputnik because of their active role in spreading misinformation.It is n & # 39; is not possible to respond to all requests for accreditation, media journalists from around the world participate in the conference, the conference, including from Russia. "
RT said he was complaining to the Foreign Ministry of his lack of accreditation, accusing the UK of "several months of defamation campaign" against the channel.
"It takes some hypocrisy to advocate for press freedom while banning uncomfortable voices and defaming alternative media," the group said in a statement.
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RT, which relies on the Russian state and formerly called Russia Today, has recently expanded its coverage of British and US news, trying to position itself as an alternative to mainstream media in both countries. .
In December, the British broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, discovered that the channel had committed seven breaches of the British Broadcasting Code when covering the poisoning in Novichok of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and from his daughter Yulia to Salisbury.
Ofcom said RT did not give sufficient weight to a range of voices and described the violations as "serious compliance issues".
- The Russian news channel RT has violated the rules of impartiality of television, according to Ofcom
The Foreign Office said that the international human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, would participate in this week's event as a special envoy to the United Kingdom. Brittany for the freedom of the media.
Ministers, members of the diplomatic community and academics will also participate in the conference.
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