Russia's Public Chamber is set to ask global nongovernmental organizations dealing with press freedom to explain why Russia ranks so low in their freedom of speech tables, an senior member said on Thursday.
"I am personally offended by the situation," said Moskovsky Komsomolets editor-in-chief Pavel Gusev, who serves as the chairman of the Public Chamber's commission on communications, information policy and freedom of speech in the mass media.
Russia occupies 140th place out of 178 in the latest rating by Reporters Without Borders. It is up 13 places on last year, but organization said the situation with press freedom in the country has not changed.
"The BRICs - Brazil, Russia, India and China - may all be at a roughly similar stage of economic development but the 2010 index highlights major differences in the press freedom situation in these countries," the annual Reporters Without Borders report said. "Russia, which had a particularly deadly preceding year, is still poorly placed at 140th".
Freedom House also said the situation with violation of press freedoms in Russia has not changed significantly and most of nongovernmental organizations, independent media and opposition still experience pressure from Russian authorities. According to the Freedom House's report Russia remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists.
RIA Novosti
