At the UN summit, a Russian journalist harassed German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. She defended herself. Now the man is portraying himself as a victim.
At first it seemed like a harmless incident. On Tuesday afternoon, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wanted to hold a short press conference for German media representatives on the sidelines of the UN General Debate on the grounds of the headquarters in New York.
Shortly before she arrived at the meeting point on the heavily secured outdoor grounds of the United Nations, a Russian journalist with a cameraman approached her and harassed her – both physically and with questions. Baerbock fended him off, referring to the upcoming press conference.
When the journalist refused to let go, Baerbock’s staff intervened. One of them tried to pull the man away from the Foreign Minister and was then pushed aside by him.
Annalena Baerbock admonishes journalists
He did not accept her spokeswoman’s offer to attend the press conference, but at a distance. Not even when Baerbock herself called him to do so so that the conference could begin. When he was again pushed away by staff, he stood about one meter away and spoke loudly into his camera. Then he disappeared.
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Such encounters are unpleasant, but they are part of everyday life for politicians. There is no expectation that journalists will always be polite. They also sometimes have to ask more persistent questions if politicians want to avoid unpleasant questions.
But a day later it became clear that the man had not been looking for answers. The employee of Russian state television shared a video of the incident on social media in which he portrayed himself as a victim and claimed that Baerbock’s employees had prevented him from working.
Users repeat propaganda narrative
Several German users also posted the Russian propaganda video with comments on the news service X. One called the incident “embarrassing” and immediately brought out the big guns: Baerbock’s “rainbow clown staff” had “suppressed” freedom of the press.
The term “rainbow” alludes to the colors of the ID lanyards that Baerbock’s staff wore around their necks. These are in the colors of the campaign for Germany’s application for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2027/28. They are black, red, yellow, green and blue, not the colors of the rainbow.
Nevertheless, other users also repeat the Putin propagandist’s narrative. Baerbock and “her staff with the rainbow wristbands” tried to “restrict” press freedom, writes a German-Syrian blogger named Manaf Hassan on “X”, who describes himself as a “journalist”.
The German journalists present were eyewitnesses to the scene and also to the aggressive manner in which the Russian man harassed Baerbock. The “t-online” journalist Patrick Diekmann also posted a video of the scene on “X”, but from a different perspective. It shows what his Russian colleague had left out: the spokeswoman’s offer to attend the press conference, from a few steps away.
Complaint filed with the UN
Baerbock’s staff have now filed a complaint with the United Nations Accreditation Office. In addition to the man’s abusive behavior, he also violated the rule that heads of state and government and other high-ranking politicians who move around relatively freely on the UN premises during the general debate may not be approached for interviews without prior permission.
It is therefore likely that this 79th UN General Assembly was also the last for the Russian journalist.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
