⚡️On this day, 16 November 1972, the UNESCO General Conference adopted the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

🇷🇺Russia makes a significant contribution to the implementation of the Convention:

📍There are 34 World Heritage sites located on the territory of Russia,

📍In 2012, St. Petersburg hosted a session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

📍Russia is home to the specialized D.Likhachev Research Institute for Cultural and Natural Heritage.

📍On 24–25 November, the 10th International Congress “World Heritage of the Commonwealth of Independent Countries” will be held in Moscow.

🎙️ Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a question from RIA Novosti regarding the IOC’s refusal to accredit the agency’s correspondents for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy (November 15, 2025)

❓ Question: Recently, we learned that the International Olympic Committee refused to accredit RIA Novosti correspondents for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The IOC explained its decision by saying that it had already distributed “a certain number of accreditations” among Russian media organisations and just cannot issue more. What would be your comment regarding this situation?

💬 Maria Zakharova: The IOC continues to ignore to basic principles of the Olympic movement in an effort to serve the Western Russophobic agenda.

This institution is to blame for the fact that Russian journalists have to face such restrictions once again when covering global sporting events such as the Olympic games.

For example, in July 2024 the Organising Committee of the Paris Olympics denied accreditation to several Russian journalists, including from RIA Novosti Sport and Izvestia International Multimedia Centre by referring to a decision of the French authorities.

In August 2024, the Organising Committee of the Paris Paralympic Games referred to a verdict of the French authorities to deny accreditation to four TASS correspondents.

Each time the Olympic movement’s executives hide behind the position of the host country, positioning themselves as obedient agents.

However, whereas previously the IOC referred to the position of the host country with feigned modesty and awkwardness, now it makes up non-existent reasons on its own for denying our correspondents access to competitions.

The gist of the argument that several Russian journalists have received accreditation to 2026 Winter Olympics looks ridiculous and shameful even to an outsider.

☝️ This awkward excuse is nothing but another manifestation of the Russophobic position conscientiously and consistently spread by this organisation. This has a deplorable effect on the Olympic movement and Olympic ideals which are based on rejecting any kinds of politicking in sports, including in elite competitions.

By conducting the flawed policy of double standards and discriminating athletes on ethnic grounds, the IOC officials have de facto trampled upon the fundamental principle of “sports outside politics” as set forth by Pierre de Coubertin in the Olympic Charter.

By acting this way, the IOC officials insult athletes and their fans all over the world, since their jingoism deprives them of the last opportunity to follow the competitions, which should be available to anyone.

We expect the appropriate international organisations (the UN, UNESCO and the OSCE) to give a substantive and unambiguous assessment of the IOC's biased policy, which once again grossly violates the principle of equal access to information and media pluralism for the sake of serving the vested interests of some pseudo-democracies, including Italy, the Olympic host country.

❗️ If they ignore this shameful incident, we will regard their inaction as another example of bias and dysfunction.