For the second consecutive day, officials from the Casa Militar and Federal Police stationed at the entrance to the Casa Rosada compare files with the name, surname and photo of the accredited journalists. “Everything remains the same,” respond those in charge of prohibit entry of those accredited by El Destape, Tiempo Argentino, La Patriada web, C5N and Ambito Financiero, the media indicated by an investigation published by the filtraleaks site as part of the disinformation campaign supported by Vladimir Putin’s government to discredit the government Javier Milei during 2024.
Late yesterday, the ban on the América 24 site was lifted. Its assigned journalists were authorized to enter, while those who belong to the other four media outlets mentioned lost the fingerprint that authorized them to work within Balcarce 50 and cover the activities that take place there. Other media also mentioned in the report, such as Infobae and El Cronista, had no complications, and their collaborators continue working within the government building.
The Government assured THE NATION that the restrictions on these media “will continue for now”, without specific deadlines to rescind the measure. In any case, some negotiation channel would be opening with the owners of these media outlets in relation to the restrictions, which were provisionally lifted in the Chamber of Deputies, which heads Martin Menem. Menem’s collaborators informed the Circle of Parliamentary Journalists yesterday that the accreditations of the media outlets La Patriada, el Destape, A24 and Gritos del Sur were suspended. They clarified that it was not something “personal” with the journalists, but with the media. As the hours went by, and after talks with those in charge of those media, it was decided to allow journalists to enter, although the situation of several of them is still “under review,” sources from the Lower House said.
The information about what happened around the case was known last Friday, as revealed by a journalistic investigation consortium that accessed a leak of Russian documents and intelligence reports.
Just as he told THE NATION That same Friday, a consortium of investigative journalists accessed a leak of Russian intelligence reports in which they revealed that a spy group known as “The Company” developed a “media and political campaign to discredit” the libertarian government during 2024, in the middle of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and while the government of Javier Milei made explicit his support for the government of Volodymyr Zelensky.
The smear campaign, according to the investigation, consisted of a series of “hybrid war” maneuvers aimed at questioning President Milei and his government with the dissemination of a mix of true and false news, fomenting internal divisions within the ruling party, supporting the opposition through various means and encouraging conflicts with neighboring countries.
According to the material accessed by that consortium of journalists, the discrediting campaign also included conducting surveys, meetings and briefings on political parties and unions, profiles of political leaders and “interviews with experts,” including “(Peronist) politicians, opposition political scientists and economists.”
The work of “The Company” in Argentina also included analysis of the Argentine military-industrial situation and oil resources in Antarctica, a campaign to promote bills against Argentina’s accession to the Contact Group of Friends of Ukraine and a plan to support opposition candidates in the legislative elections that took place during 2025.
Knowing the Government’s measures, the Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities (ADEPA) issued a statement to express its “concern” about “the existence of an alleged espionage and disinformation campaign of foreign origin” against the president’s government. Javier Milei. At the same time, he asked to “avoid generalizations” that could motivate questions about the exercise of the journalistic profession.
The revelations about the apocryphal news dissemination network that would have been financed by Russia motivated a reaction from the Government, even with aggressive messages from the president. Javier Milei towards him journalism and press workers. ADEPA addressed the issue with a request to avoid generalizations.
“ADEPA emphasizes that journalism plays an essential role in democratic life, based on the search for information, the verification of facts and the corresponding editorial responsibility. This type of illegitimate campaigns not only distorts the meaning of that work, but can affect public trust in the media. Therefore, It is also prudent to avoid generalizations that could lead to generic questions about the professional practice of journalism.“, highlighted the entity in one of the paragraphs of its statement.
