MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has taken notice of the official apologies of CNN due to the channel's blasphemous assessment of the Courage monument dedicated to defenders of the Brest Fortress.
"But it is necessary to realize that such irresponsible actions have inflicted serious damage to CNN's reputation and have led to further the decline of the channel's rating in Russia," Russian Foreign Ministry Human Rights Ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov said.
CNN executives have offered official apologies in person during a meeting with Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, which has recently taken place in the Russian embassy in Washington. CNN representatives said they offered their sincere regrets over the incident and an internal inquiry is being held over the posting of the material, which desecrated the memory of those killed in war against fascism, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"In our turn, we confirm our principled assessment that desecrating the memory of heroic defenders of the Brest Fortress can not be justified and forgiven, no matter what explanations are proposed. We allow that the author of the scandalous 'rating of monuments' is ill-aware of history and that those who permitted its publication did not have 'evil intent'," Dolgov said.
Russia will continue "to decisively cut short attempts to falsify history and belittle the role of the Soviet Union in achieving victory in World War II," Dolgov said.