RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan is not surprised to see RT channels face a ban in Estonia after similar restrictions were already imposed in neighboring Latvia
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2020) RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan is not surprised to see RT channels face a ban in Estonia after similar restrictions were already imposed in neighboring Latvia.
In late June, Latvia banned the broadcasting of RT's seven channels, including RT Arabic and RT Spanish. On Monday, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said that Tallinn is weighing the possibility of following Riga's suit.
"After almost a week, Estonia joined the campaign to protect the Spanish and Arab-speaking population from RT. Now our channel can be banned there as well. [Estonia is] following Latvia and Lithuania. Q.E.D. [quod erat demonstrandum, i.e. what was to be shown]," Simonyan said, as quoted by RT.
In early July, when commenting on Lithuanian foreign ministry's recommendation to impose a similar ban, Simonyan already said that Estonia too might soon follow suit "to protect its Arabic and Spanish speaking population from RT."
Latvia explained its decision to prohibit the broadcasting of RT channels by saying that they were headed by Rossiya Segodnya Director-General Dmitry Kiselev, who is under EU sanctions. Notably, RT and Rossiya Segodnya are two different legal entities and the former is not chaired by Kiselev.
Russian media in the Baltic states have been frequently targeted by authorities. The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the three nations of a coordinated crackdown on the media, which is not in line with the principle of freedom of expression.
