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Moscow urges to honor rights of Russian journalists in EU

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Russia calls on international agencies to take steps to prevent any violation of Russian journalists’ rights in the European Union after Estonia banned entry for reporters of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, the Foreign Ministry said.

"We were perplexed about the decision of the Estonian presidency in the EU Council to issue a ban on journalists of Rossiya Segodnya, without explaining any reasons, on covering an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Tallinn on September 7-8," the ministry said.

"We call on the respective international structures to pay special attention to this outrageous case and take measures to prevent any infringement of Russian journalists’ rights," the ministry said.

The ministry slammed the decision of Estonian authorities on the Russian reporters as flagrant discrimination showing "the real price of hypocritical statements of Estonian authorities on the commitment to the freedom of speech and access to information."

"No matter if this decision was an independent step of the Estonian presidency or it had been agreed with Brussels, in any case Tallinn’s ban undermines the EU’s authority," the ministry stressed.