MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. The detention of Chief Editor of the Lithuanian branch of the Sputnik news outlet Marat Kasem is a violation of media rights, Russia’s mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Twitter on Tuesday.
"The editor-in-chief of the Sputnik Lietuva news agency was detained on arrival to the Vilnius airport under the pretext ‘a threat to the national security.’ This is another example of a gross violation of media rights and suppression of alternative opinions in the country," the tweet reads.
Kasem, a Latvian citizen, was detained at Vilnius Airport on Tuesday. According to him, Lithuanian officials claimed he posed a threat to the national security. The journalist has been deported and banned from entering Lithuania for five years.