A number of Russian dignitaries and media professionals gathered in Midtown Manhattan at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday evening to mark the occasion. Speaking at the official ceremony in the UN Conference Room 4 were Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin, UN Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach, and RT Director General Alexey Nikolov.

RT’s hashtag #QuestionMore could be seen on all of the UN member states’ digital desktop name displays throughout the auditorium.

Under-Secretary-General Gallach welcomed RT’s addition to the UN’s in-house network, “The UN in-house television network is viewed by UN staff members, delegates and visiting officials. It is home to a diverse range of news broadcasting networks from around the world and in different languages, and today welcome the newest member to the network.”

In an earlier press statement, RT head Alexey Nikolov said, “Today, in the era of sweeping, global political changes, it is more important than ever to consider different points of view – to compare them, to draw independent conclusions.  In just 11 years, RT has won worldwide acclaim as a go-to source for alternative perspectives on current events. The diversity of views and stories that we represent is the embodiment of the fundamental principles of the Organization. We are pleased that the voice of RT will now be heard at UN level”.

“People must have the right to know different news coming from different sources – and then make their own judgment,” said Nikolov, in conclusion to a very moving personal speech about his own family’s experience of propaganda during the mid 20th-century Soviet era.

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In economic news, Alexander Mercouris discusses the Russian Central Banker’s designation by (British) Banker magazine as central banker of the year.   He also points out that Russia’s GDP may grow better than predicted, based on the results of the last quarter in 2016:

On the question of GDP growth, early indications are that it might be higher this year than earlier forecasts had predicted, with evidence in the final quarter of 2016 that the economy was recovering more strongly than expected.  Former Finance Minister Kudrin, a consistent pessimist about the Russian economy from within the government who is however also [central banker] Nabiullina’s strong ally, is now predicting GDP growth to rise to 3.5% by 2019, reaching the target rate of 4% by 2021.

Meanwhile,  The Duran reports that “According to a new report released by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), losses from EU anti-Russian sanctions and Russian counter sanctions have been calculated at 17,6 billion euros in 2015, and have cost Europe 400 thousand jobs.”

So it looks like the EU policy on Russia – pushed by Washington – has backfired on them.  Russia has shown admirable stamina since 2014 and appears to be headed for a rally, while the EU’s economy is stumbling with nothing positive to show from all this.