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Lavrov lashes out at ‘political censorship’ in Ukraine, Baltic countries

Those, who have been preaching to the world about freedom of speech and expression, are now demonstrating intolerance of alternative points of view, the top diplomat said

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/TASS

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MOSCOW, February 24./TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dubbed as political censorship the closure of Russian-language TV channels in Ukraine and the Baltic countries, as he addressed the high-level segment of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

Those, who have been preaching to the world about freedom of speech and expression, are now demonstrating intolerance of alternative points of view, the top diplomat said. "A number of countries deliberately seek to impose political censorship and limit access to information in violation of UN, OSCE and Council of Europe commitments," Lavrov stressed.

"The recent closure of television channels broadcasting in the Russian language in Ukraine and the Baltic countries, searches of journalists’ offices and homes and their expulsion are glaring examples of this," he pointed out.

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