MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The issue of EU sanctions against Russian media outlets deserves a separate discussion at the OSCE, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference on Monday.

"At the very least, the issue of how EU sanctions affect the freedom of the media deserves a separate discussion at the OSCE. Especially because it is not clear, why criminal proceedings were launched for offenses allegedly committed by Sputnik and Baltnews reporters. We did not forget about this matter, it remains at our negotiating table with the OSCE, with Ms. Ribeiro," he said.

Lavrov added that OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro will visit Russia soon.

"There is a statistic on how many Russian-speaking media outlets function in every country, and I think it should be studied to determine, what kind of outlet it is, and who owns the corresponding media outlet," the minister stressed.

In early December 2020, the Latvian State Security Service detained several Russian-language journalists working for Sputnik Latvia and Baltnews. The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed the accusations against the reporters as fabricated.

Since February 1, Latvia’s Tet telecommunications company stopped broadcasting Russian TV channels PBC, NTV-World, Ren TV Baltiya, Kinokomediya and Kinomiks. This decision was caused by apprehensions over possible violation of sanctions. The company pointed out that these TV channels in Latvia are distributed by TEM LV, one of the companies of the Baltijas mediju alianse media holding, which earlier was charged with violation of international sanctions.