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Russia demands immediate release of blogger Kirill Fedorov in Latvia — diplomat

Moscow considers the arrest of the blogger a violation of human rights

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Moscow demands the immediate release of blogger Kirill Fedorov arrested in Latvia for expressing support for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Tuesday.

Moscow considers the arrest of the blogger a violation of human rights. "We are outraged by yet another fact of gross violation of fundamental human rights in Latvia, where a well-known Internet blogger Kirill Fedorov was recently detained for his assessments of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. Riga once again demonstrates that its international commitments regarding freedom of speech and access to information, to which it has subscribed, in fact mean nothing to it," the diplomat pointed out.

"We demand the immediate release of independent expert Kirill Fedorov and an end to the lawlessness. The journalistic community must also say its word," she stressed.

According to her, Russia's repeated appeals to the European human rights structures on this issue remain without any appropriate response. "I get the impression they've long ago made up their minds to ignore the outrages taking place in the Baltic States in the sphere of human rights and look for grounds to criticize other countries with extremely limited political preferences," the spokeswoman added.

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