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Russian envoy calls on Council of Europe to assess attacks on media in Latvia, Ukraine

Latvia’s Tet telecommunications company, 51% of which is owned by the government, previously reported that since February 1, it suspended broadcast of five Russian TV channels in Latvia - PBC, NTV-Baltic, REN TV Baltic, Kinokomediya and Kinomiks

PARIS, February 4. /TASS/. Russia is calling on the Council of Europe to give an adequate assessment of the persecution of the media in Latvia and in Ukraine, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky told TASS on Thursday, commenting on the sanctions against Ukrainian TV channels and Latvia banning five Russian TV channels.

"These outrageous violations of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Freedom of expression) have not been met with an adequate reaction of the Council of Europe, which restricts itself to monitoring the situation. This passivity is not surprising," he said.

Soltanovsky noted "the systematic issue of double standards within the organization."

"It is difficult for us to not see the criticism of Russian events periodically heard in the organization as biased politicized rhetoric," he said. "If the Council of Europe wants the demands and statements from Strasbourg to be taken seriously, I suppose they need to start focusing on mass human rights violations in Ukraine, Latvia and other Western countries," Soltanovsky said.

Latvia’s Tet telecommunications company, 51% of which is owned by the government, previously reported that since February 1, it suspended broadcast of five Russian TV channels in Latvia - PBC, NTV-Baltic, REN TV Baltic, Kinokomediya and Kinomiks. The main reason for such a decision was a concern about possible non-compliance with the sanctions. Furthermore, the distributor of these TV channels in Latvia is TEM LV, one of the Baltic Media Alliance’s companies, which was earlier accused of violating international sanctions.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky greenlighted sanctions slapped on three TV channels (112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK) and their owner, member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Taras Kozak. These restrictions will be in effect for five years. These measures envisage annulling or suspending licenses as well as banning the use of Ukrainian TV and radio frequencies. Their assets will be blocked, and their economic and financial liabilities will be frozen. The management will not be allowed to transfer financial assets to foreign countries, engage in transactions with securities and open accounts in foreign banks.

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