MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th December, 2019) Chair of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) Valery Fadeyev on Thursday has asked the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's representative on freedom of the media, Harlem Desir, and Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic to take the situation around Sputnik Estonia under personal control, the HRC press service said in a statement.
"The Council asks Harlem Desir and Dunja Mijatovic to take the situation under personal control and to draw attention of the Estonian authorities to the need to stop any pressure on media, as well as strict compliance with European standards relating to the freedom of press and journalists' rights," the statement said.
The HRC has also expressed serious concerns over threats by the Estonian authorities to Sputnik Estonia staff and described the actions of the country's police as violating key international and European norms regarding freedom of media and independence of journalists.
On Wednesday, the Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency said that employees of Sputnik Estonia had received letters from the Baltic country's Police and Border Guard board that warned they would face criminal prosecution unless they stopped working for the news agency by January 1.
The Estonian authorities cited the 2014 EU sanctions as a pretext for possible legal action. Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan has already asked Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid to not allow the journalists to be arrested.
