Lavrov: Kerry's 'prosecutorial' RT assault unacceptable

Russia's Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has lashed out at US Secretary of State John Kerry over his 'prosecutorial' remarks about RT.

"The US is trying to pervert everything that is going on in Ukraine. They accuse us of turning on - what was called by John Kerry in a prosecutorial tone - accuse us of switching on what they called the ‘Putin propaganda machine’ called RT,” said Lavrov during the press conference.

“Well, It’s not civilized to call the media like that,” he said, adding that he can "understand John Kerry because RT now presents serious competition for CNN and BBC and other media outlets, which some time ago were confident that they had an absolute monopoly and no competition could threaten them."

However, RT news channel has gathered a large audience among US and European viewers, let alone in Latin America and the Arab World, Lavrov said.

According to Lavrov, Russia will actively support these independent views of RT, which are an alternative to what Western propaganda tells the world.

During a press conference with the State Department on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry rounded on RT, lashing out at its Ukraine coverage.

“The propaganda bullhorn that is the state-sponsored RT program has been deployed to promote – actually, RT network – has been deployed to promote President Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground,” Kerry said.