The Sputnik new agency was served notice on the closure of its Internet resource in Latvia’s national domain zone on March 29.
The Sputnik new agency was served notice on the closure of its Internet resource in Latvia’s national domain zone on March 29.
«We regard the alleged violations of the EU Council’s Regulation concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine as groundless and politically motivated. The Russian news media agency follows high professional and ethical standards in its work; its activity is in full conformity with Latvian national and EU laws and with all generally accepted norms and principles of international law in respect to freedom of expression and the media», the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation commented.
It is said that official Riga, with the tacit inaction of human rights organisations, again ignores its conventional obligations regarding the promotion of media pluralism and freedom of expression, continuing the policy of methodically pushing Russian media out of Latvia. «Such steps by the Latvian authorities with regard to a news agency are yet another challenge to European values and democratic freedoms. We urge the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, as well as issue-specific international organisations, to make an objective assessment of these discriminatory actions, which, essentially, are nothing but a direct manifestation of censorship», the department added.