Moscow Calls On OSCE To Assess Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius Steps Against Russian-Language Media

Moscow is calling on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)'s recently appointed representative on freedom of the media, Teresa Ribeiro, to give an assessment to restrictive steps taken by Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius against Russian-language media outlets, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said in an interview with Sputnik

VIENNA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2021) Moscow is calling on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)'s recently appointed representative on freedom of the media, Teresa Ribeiro, to give an assessment to restrictive steps taken by Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius against Russian-language media outlets, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said in an interview with Sputnik.

Russian diplomats held a meeting with Ribeiro soon after her appointment to the post, Lukashevich recalled.

"They conveyed to her Russia's concerns on all the media-related problems, including discriminatory moves against Russian and Russian-language media outlets by some of the OSCE nations. They put a special emphasis on the extremely tough situation in the Baltic countries, where the authorities exert all kinds of pressure on media outlets, including even threats of criminal prosecution.

They stressed that we qualify the actions by Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius as a gross violation of their international commitments to freedom of the media. Apart from that, they called on Ribeiro to immediately address the situation and give an assessment to such restrictive steps," Lukashevich said.

According to the diplomat, Ribeiro later held meetings with Latvia's and Estonia's representatives to the OSCE, and brought up the closure of Sputnik news agency's Tallinn bureau and the persecution of Baltnews and Sputnik journalists in Latvia.

"We noted with satisfaction that Ribeiro also pointed to the inadmissibility of restricting journalists' rights to free expression of their opinion, and stressed that economic sanctions implementation must not violate the media freedom," Lukashevich added,