Russian ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova thanked Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, for her help in protecting rights of Sputnik Estonia journalists, who were forced to shut down their office in the Baltic country
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2020) Russian ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova thanked Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, for her help in protecting rights of Sputnik Estonia journalists, who were forced to shut down their office in the Baltic country.
In late January, Moskalkova met with Mijatovic to discuss the situation around Sputnik Estonia among other things. Kirill Vyshinsky, the executive director of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, and Sputnik Estonia chief Elena Cherysheva also met with Mijatovic, who pledged to look into the situation.
'"I want to thank you for your response to my appeals to you concerning the need to protect Sputnik Estonia. Unfortunately, journalists were threatened with criminal prosecution for working under a contract with an organization that is under sanctions. Certainly, this is a far-fetched pretext for restricting freedom of speech," Moskalkova said during a video conference with Mijatovic.
Sputnik Estonia staffers were forced to terminate their contracts starting January 1, after receiving threats of jail terms of up to five years from Estonian police. Estonian authorities cited the 2014 EU sanctions over Ukraine against Dmitry Kiselev, the head of Sputnik's Moscow-based parent agency, as a pretext for these actions.
In connection with the situation, Rossiya Segodnya, the parent agency, has appealed to reporters' rights groups and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OCSE). The latter's representative on freedom of the media, Harlem Desir, urged Tallinn to "refrain from unnecessary limitations on the work of foreign media that can affect the free flow of information." Desir also stated that individual EU sanctions on Kiselev could not be extended to Sputnik Estonia journalists.
