Vyshinsky Stages Lone Picket To Protest Russian Media Crackdown In Latvia

Faizan Hashmi Published February 05, 2021 | 05:05 PM

The Rossiya Segodnya news agency's executive director, Kirill Vyshinsky, on Friday staged a one-man protest against the crackdown on Russian media in Latvia by picketing the Russian Foreign Ministry's House of Receptions in Moscow

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th February, 2021) The Rossiya Segodnya news agency's executive director, Kirill Vyshinsky, on Friday staged a one-man protest against the crackdown on Russian media in Latvia by picketing the Russian Foreign Ministry's House of Receptions in Moscow.

The picket came ahead of the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, who is on a first official visit to Moscow since 2017.

"I came here to once again draw the attention of European diplomacy to what is happening in the European Union with our colleagues who, under far-fetched pretexts, are being prosecuted just to be prevented from working in the language they want and expressing the thoughts they want to express," Vyshinsky told reporters.

He added that the detained journalists' collaboration with the Rossiya Segodnya media group led to the threat of criminal prosecution, searches and seizure of equipment.

"I just hope that European diplomacy, which is so concerned about the human rights situation in Russia, will try to at least pay attention, let alone take any measures, so that our fellow journalists have the opportunity to work in the EU, in those media that are close to them in editorial policy, and where they can freely express their thoughts," Vyshinsky added.

In December, several Latvian Russian-speaking journalists, including those who wrote articles for Baltnews and Sputnik Latvia outlets, were accused of violating EU sanctions. Their apartments were searched and they were put under their own recognizance not to leave the country. Sputnik Latvia and Baltnews are part of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, whose director general, Dmitry Kiselev, is on the EU sanctions list.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says that the EU sanctions are individual and concern only Kiselev and thus cannot be applied to everyone, who cooperates with the media group. According to Moscow, Latvia uses EU sanctions as an excuse to justify its "punitive campaign" against Russian media.