BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) issued on Monday a media freedom alert on the Council of Europe's platform over the refusal of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to provide Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency with accreditation to cover the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Commenting on the publication, EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutierrez told Sputnik that in accordance with the established practice the alert would be circulated among the ambassadors of all member states of the Council of Europe.
"The secretary general of the CoE [Council of Europe], Mr. [Thorbjorn] Jagland, will ask the representatives of Estonia to give some explanations about that ban," Gutierrez added.
Three correspondents of Rossiya Segodnya were rejected to get accreditation for the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Tallinn scheduled for September 7-8 without explanation of reasons. The agency has for the first time faced such restrictions in getting access to coverage of ministerial level events under the aegis of the European Union.
The EFJ has issued an alert level 2 over the case.
