Russia's Ombudswoman Gets Requests to Protect Baltnews, Sputnik Latvia Reporters

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has received requests from journalists who work with Baltnews and Sputnik Latvia media outlets, asking to protect their rights to freedom of speech, Moskalkova's office told Sputnik on Thursday, adding that work on the requests is already underway.

"There are such [requests]. We are already working on them", the office said.

In December, several Russian-speaking journalists working in Latvia, including those who wrote articles for the Baltnews and Sputnik Latvia outlets, have been accused of violating EU sanctions.

Sputnik

© Sputnik / Konstantin Chalabov

/

Go to the mediabank

Their apartments were searched, with them being put under the condition to not leave the country. Sputnik Latvia and Baltnews are part of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, whose director-general, Dmitry Kiselev, is on the EU sanctions list.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says that the EU sanctions are individual and concern only Kiselev and thus could not apply to all individuals and entities that work with the agency, especially those who work as freelance journalists. According to Moscow, Latvia uses EU sanctions as an excuse to justify its "punitive campaign" against Russian media.