RIGA, November 25 (RIA Novosti) - European countries are guilty of double standards in their relations with Russia, an Italian member of the European Parliament said on Tuesday.

Giulietto Chiesa is currently in Latvia to present a book devoted to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

"The West has a policy of double standards with regard to Russia. We could see this during the five-day war in Georgia," the parliamentarian said. "Almost all the newspapers and politicians in Europe supported the actions of Tbilisi and criticized Russia."

"The European media is, unfortunately, not as free as it was 20 years ago," said Chiesa, who paid a private visit to South Ossetia on October 25.

He earlier called Western media reports of the war, "the worst coverage I have seen since the war in Iraq."

Russia sent its military into South Ossetia in response to a Georgian offensive against the breakaway republic on August 8, which left hundreds of civilians dead. Moscow subsequently recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another separatist Georgian region, as independent states.