Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange runs counter to the idea of freedom of the media.
Wikileaks is "an independent source of information that is being persecuted," Peskov noted. "Certainly, from our standpoint, it runs totally counter to the idea of freedom of the media and the media’s immunity," TASS cited him as saying. We expect that all of "Assange’s legitimate rights will be respected," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.
When commenting on assumptions that Assange’s arrest may have negative consequences for Russia because, according to the U.S. media, he disclosed information about U.S. 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s correspondence, the Russian presidential spokesman said it was nothing but a conspiracy theory.
