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Russian top senator calls on OSCE to address Estonia’s pressure on Sputnik news agency

The Russian parliament speaker has blasted the current situation with the Sputnik news agency in Estonia as unprecedented

© EPA/FLORIAN WIESER

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko has called on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to address Estonia’s pressure on Russian news agency Sputnik during their upcoming sessions, the speaker said during a session of the upper chamber of parliament on Monday.

"Dear colleagues and heads of delegations to PACE and the OSCE, I support the offer to raise this issue," Matviyenko replied to a corresponding offer by Chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Interim Commission on Information Policy and Cooperation with the Media Alexei Pushkov.

The speaker has blasted the current situation with the Sputnik news agency in Estonia as unprecedented, calling on Russian lawmakers to address the Council of Europe and the European Parliament with a written complaint. "This is truly outrageous. People are threatened with criminal prosecution for working in a media outlet. Let’s prepare a written address," Matviyenko stated.

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Rossiya Segodnya international information agency (owner of Sputnik) said earlier that Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board was threatening to open criminal cases against Sputnik employees if they continued to work for the head organization after January 1, 2020. Apart from that, Sputnik is forced to vacate its rented premises by the end of February as required by the renter. Sputnik’s office in Tallinn employs 35 people.

Earlier, head of Estonia’s Financial Intelligence Unit Madis Reimand told Delfi news portal that there are EU sanctions in place against head of MIA Rossiya Segodnya Dmitry Kiselev in light of activity undermining Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity. He added that these sanctions should lead to freezing the property of individuals and legal entities subject to the restrictions.

On Friday, Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Interim Commission on Information Policy and Cooperation with the Media, told TASS that in a phone call, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir promised to look into the situation with pressure on the Sputnik journalists in Estonia, pointing out that no sanctions had been slapped on the agency in the European Union. Desir called on Tallinn to refrain from restrictions against Sputnik reporters.

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