Former UN weapons inspector and US Marine will participate online after being blocked from traveling to Russia
Scott Ritter © Vitaly Belousov; RIA Novosti
Former US Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter will take part in a discussion panel hosted by RT at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday. He will join the event online after being barred by US authorities from traveling to Russia.
The RT session will be held under the title ‘The Empire of Evil: Has The West Successfully Demonized Russia?’ and will feature several guests, including former aide to US President Joe Biden Tara Reade, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria Karin Kneissl and great nephew of Otto von Bismarck, Alexander von Bismarck.
The panel will be moderated by RT host and correspondent Oksana Boyko. A live broadcast of the discussion will be available via RuTube, VK and OK.
Ritter was supposed to take part in the discussions in person. However, on Monday, upon attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight to travel to St Petersburg, he was prevented from doing so by US border-security officers, who confiscated his passport and offloaded his luggage.
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According to Ritter, when he asked the officers why they’d taken his passport, they stated that they were following the “orders of the US State Department.” The political analyst and commenter has suggested that the move was a “deliberate ambush” orchestrated by the US government out of spite, and meant to “stick it to the Russians.”
“The disappointment I felt when my government denied me the opportunity to appear in person in Saint Petersburg was great. However, through the miracle of modern technology, my voice will not be silenced by those who disagree with the messages it carries,” Ritter said.
Meanwhile, Moscow has reacted to the incident by suggesting that Washington has once again demonstrated that it has “long become a police state” by denying its citizens rights to establish any kind of contacts with Russia.