Sputnik Estonia Journalists to Terminate Employment Over Threats – Rossiya Segodnya

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Sputnik Estonia journalists are forced to terminate their employment starting January 1, 2020, over a fear of criminal prosecution in the country, Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency said, slamming the Estonian government’s pressure on the journalists as a totalitarian campaign violating the freedom of speech.

“We consider the Estonian regime’s actions targeting the citizens of our country as overt bullying, lawlessness, a manifestation of totalitarianism and a gross violation of the principles of freedom of speech, which has no precedents in the European Union. The only thing the journalists are ‘guilty’ of is working for a Russian media outlet”, the agency added.

Harlem Desir, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s representative on freedom of the media, has already said that EU sanctions on Dmitry Kiselev cannot be extended on Sputnik Estonia journalists, the news agency added.

The information agency called on all the international and European organisations to express their position regarding Tallinn’s steps, and thanked global politicians and journalists for their support.

The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board warned Sputnik Estonia earlier in December that its journalists could face criminal prosecution unless they severed their ties with the Moscow-based parent news agency, Rossiya Segodnya, by 1 January. The Estonian authorities cited the 2014 European Union’s sanctions, imposed on a range of entities and persons in light of the events in Ukraine, as a pretext for the possible legal action.

Sourse: sputniknews.com