Zakharova Calls Pressure On Russian Media In Baltic States 'Russophobic Campaign'

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2020) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that restrictions put on the Russian media, including Sputnik, in the Baltic states are an outright demonstration of Russophobic sentiments.

"By exerting unprecedented pressure on the local Sputnik Estonia office, the Estonian authorities resorted, among other things, to threats of criminal prosecution against employees of the Russian media, and forced the news agency to suspend the work of the editorial office from January 1," Zakharova said.

The spokeswoman noted that Sputnik Lithuania also suffered the constant pressure by the country's authorities.

"In May 2019, the [Lithuanian] authorities banned the chief editor of Sputnik Lithuania, Marat Kasem, from entering the country for five years. Last year, the country banned rebroadcasting of Russian tv channels and blocked Russian-language media resources in the internet under various pretexts. It is obvious that we are dealing with an outright Russophobic campaign," Zakharova stated.

Pressure on Russian media is a regular occurrence in the Baltic countries. The Russian Foreign Ministry considers it to be an orchestrated campaign by Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, which renders their declared commitment to the freedom of speech merely rhetoric.