In its “exclusive” story published on November 10, Reuters claimed it had obtained a “draft” of Russia’s plan for a “constitutional reform process of up to 18 months,” prepared for the multilateral talks on Syria this week.
The Reuters News Agency requested a comment from the Foreign Ministry, which it was given, but then decided to ignore it in their report.
"The [news] agency indeed contacted us prior to writing this information,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry told reporters on Thursday. “[Reuters’] Moscow correspondents have received extensive comments that this information does not correspond to reality."
The Foreign Ministry confirmed to Reuters that Moscow is in contact and in consultation with its partners, but emphasized that there was “certainly” no such document in the works.
“After an hour-and-a half, the report, which widely spread throughout the world’s media, was published without a relevant comment from Russian Foreign Ministry,” Zakharova said, pointing out that at the same time, Reuters did not hesitate to quote some of its “unnamed sources.”
“Thus the central media with a long history has opted for the publication of perspective from unnamed sources, while they had been given an official comment by Russian Foreign Ministry,” Zakharova said; RT reported.
S/SH