"The Latvian media's policies have been subject to stringent regulations, whereas no rules have existed for the Russian-language print and other editions," Indulis Emsis, the head of the parliamentary security commission, told Latvian radio. "I mean that we have 'tightened the belts' for the Latvian media, but have not done so with respect to the Russian media. This is not fair."
On Wednesday, Emsis said he had evidence that Latvia's Russian-language media had been secretly receiving funds from Russia's federal budget.
The Russian Foreign Ministry vehemently denied the allegation. Viktor Kalyuzhny, Russia's ambassador to the Baltic nation, which has a significant ethnic-Russian population, demanded that Emsis either provide evidence or apologize for his comments.
