SAINT PETERSBURG, August 3. /TASS/. Russia would welcome Kazakhstan's joining the International Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN), Alexander Smirnov, head of the Russian Presidential Directorate for Public Relations and Communications, said at the plenary session of the III Russian-Kazakh Media Forum.

"As you know, there is an initiative that has already been mentioned in this hall today - the international special project of TASS, the Global Fact-Checking Network. This is an international platform for countering fakes. We would welcome Kazakhstan's joining this institution," he said.

As Smirnov noted, Russian and Kazakh media are ideologically close and largely perform common tasks. "We should only facilitate this and encourage their work in every possible way. Moreover, we consider it necessary to continue supporting a preferential regime for their activities," the head of the Russian Presidential Directorate for Public Relations and Communications added.

"I hope that this mutually beneficial cooperation will continue to grow and all emerging contradictions will be resolved in a friendly manner," he emphasized.

The first Russia-Kazakhstan media forum took place at the TASS headquarters in Moscow in November 2024. The second meeting in this format was held last year in Almaty.

The Global Fact-Checking Network brings together experts and fact-checking organizations worldwide. The association was established by the TASS news agency, ANO Dialog Regions, and the New Media Workshop in 2025 to combat disinformation. More than 95 foreign journalists, investigators and organizations from 47 countries are already cooperating with GFCN in the field of fact-checking.