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Russia's Justice Ministry Defends Online Exhibition Amid Criticism
WHY IT MATTERS
The controversy surrounding the exhibition highlights the ongoing tensions between Russia's government and independent media outlets, with the Justice Ministry accusing 'foreign agents' of spreading false information and manipulating history for political gain.
What happened
Russia's Deputy Justice Minister Oleg Sviridenko has defended the country's Justice Ministry's online exhibition, 'Protecting the Sovereignty of the Russian State: Past and Present', against criticism from independent journalists. The exhibition, which was posted in late July, included a propaganda film about Hitler and numerous errors, including factual ones, and signs that artificial intelligence had been used to write the text.
Sviridenko claimed that every fact in the exhibition had been checked against primary sources in archives and that the criticism from 'foreign agents' was a predictable reaction.
He accused them of spreading distorted information and falsifying history to serve their Western 'employers'.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Russia’s Justice Ministry insists every fact in its online history exhibit was checked against archival records. The exhibit included a mangled Putin quote and a Nazi film praising Hitler.
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