Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba was afraid to answer a Russian journalist, he had nothing to say, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on July 21, answering a question about not allowing a TASS correspondent to attend a briefing in Islamabad with Kuleba’s participation.

According to Zakharova, the refusal to allow the correspondent to the briefing was a clumsy ploy by the Ukrainian side. She noted that such behavior of the Kyiv authorities proves that they do not care about journalistic ethics.

“It seems that Dmitry Kuleba simply got scared to answer the questions of the only Russian journalist registered for the event. The Ukrainian guest has nothing to say about the case,” she told TASS.

Kyiv’s attempts to drive a wedge between Russia and Pakistan with its circus performances are doomed to failure, she added.

On July 20, a Russian correspondent was forced to leave the press center of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry half an hour before the start of a joint briefing by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Kuleba. The Ukrainian side put forward a condition to prevent Russian journalists from covering the event with the participation of Kuleba. However, the journalist had been allowed to work the day before.

Earlier, in March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on The Wall Street Journal’s call to expel all Russian journalists from the United States amid the arrest of its correspondent Evan Gershkovich. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, this statement is absurd and wrong, since there is no reason for this. He also added that all foreign journalists who have valid accreditation in Russia can carry out their journalistic activities.