A Russian news outlet is suing the country’s Foreign Ministry for withholding information on meetings between Russia’s ambassador to the United States and top officials from the Trump administration.
The Mediazona website filed a lawsuit on April 7, accusing the Foreign Ministry of “illegal inaction.”
Officials refused to answer journalists' requests for details on Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak’s meetings with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump advisor Jared Kushner, and the former head of Trump’s campaign headquarters Paul Manafort.
In a written response, the ministry said that "the content of such meetings do not belong in the public sphere." It also said the good practice did not allow them to make information public without the consent of both parties.
The Mediazona lawsuit disputes the decision, which it says violates media law by withholding information not classified as a state or commercial secret.
Speaking on Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed the case as a PR stunt.
She said that officials had answered the media outlet's requests, but simply "not in the way that Mediazona wanted to hear."
