MOSCOW, October 24. /TASS/. The West is making a wide use of information technologies and the mediasphere to stage aggressive anti-Russian campaigns, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday after a board meeting dedicated to media support to the Russian foreign policy.

Among participants in the meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were deputy chief of the Russian president’s administration, Alexei Gromov, and deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Buravlev.

"Participants in the meeting noted that the current stage of the development of international relations is characterized by a wide use of information technologies as a tool to influence public opinion in political purposes," the ministry said.

"As a result, the mediasphere has turned into an arena for aggressive information campaigns which is clearly seen in the West’s policy towards Russia. Notably, they use the so-called Russian propaganda as a pretext to involve foreign mass media and expert community and build a network of institutions specializing in information wars. Their purposes are to discredit our country and its policy in the eyes of the international community, to undermine our internal stability."

"The importance of information support to Russia’s foreign policy is objectively growing on this background," the ministry stressed. "The top priority task is to offer efficient and quick reaction to major newsworthy developments and take preventive actions."

The ministry’s board discussed the entire spectrum of the ministry’s media activities, including the work of its central administration, offices in Russian regions and consular missions abroad. Special focus was made on the protection of the rights of Russian journalists and the interests of Russian mass media abroad. Participants stressed the importance of adequate reaction to ongoing attempts at undermining the international legal framework of mass media activities.