Russia Supports Creating UN-Based Mechanisms to Fight Disinformation

UNITED NATIONS, (Sputnik) - Russia supports creating UN-based mechanisms to fight disinformation, however, the current Principles for Information Integrity initiative raises a lot of questions among the UN member states, Russian Deputy Ambassador to the world body Dmitry Polyanskiy said.

"Russia fully supports the creation of UN -based transparent mechanisms to combat disinformation," Polyanskiy said.

However, the proposed new initiative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - UN Global Principles for Information Integrity (formerly the Code of Conduct on Digital Platforms) - raises many questions among member states, he said.

"In particular, we note the non-transparent nature of the work on the document, which, even in an interim version, was never presented after three rounds of consultations," Polyanskiy said.

If the United Nations Secretariat plans to release an initiative that will be followed by member states, then an in-depth, truly broad consultation is required, Polyanskiy said.

"Otherwise, you will end up with an inconsistent 'stillborn product,'" Polyanskiy added.