Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova’s reply to a question from Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency about the developments around the Sputnik news agency in Estonia

Question: The Estonian authorities continue to claim that they took action towards the Sputnik bureau in Tallinn in line with EU sanctions although the EU resolutions only concern personal restrictions on Dmitry Kiselev. What does the Foreign Ministry think about this issue?

Maria Zakharova: We noticed that Tallinn repeatedly invoked the EU sanctions to justify the crude violation of the rights of Sputnik journalists to perform their professional activities in Estonia. We will say straight away that we consider illegal any similar restrictions from the EU.

Moreover, we do not know about any unilateral restrictions of the EU that would allow it to commit such a glaring violation of the freedom of speech and opinion. We call on the EU competent bodies, in particular the European Council and the European External Action Service, to give a proper assessment of the conduct of the Estonian authorities and their references to the EU position.