MOSCOW (Sputnik Press-Office) — A district court in Vilnius has agreed to hear a lawsuit filed by Sputnik against the Baltic News Service (BNS) regarding alleged unlawful and unjustified actions. In January 2017, Sputnik Lithuania received an official letter from the former head of BNS, Tomas Balzekas, in which he announced the unilateral termination of an agreement to provide content to Sputnik Lithuania. Sputnik had been fully compliant with the contract before the announcement.
Head of Sputnik CIS and Baltics, Andrei Blagodyrenko, said: «The early termination of the contract by BNS is illegal and unsubstantiated. BNS had no right to unilaterally withdraw, neither in law nor under the contract.»
Following the situation in Lithuania, news agencies LETA and BNS have terminated contracts with Sputink offices in two other countries, Sputnik Latvia and Sputnik Estonia. In an official letter, BNS reported that it would cease providing content to Sputnik Estonia. LETA (Latvia) notified Sputnik Latvia of its intention to end cooperation from March 1. This near simultaneous dissolution without grounds in three countries (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) can only be explained with recourse to political reasons. This was evident in the response given to Sputnik Lithuania by Balzekas who said that BNS had decided, "not to cooperate with media that published propaganda materials in this country and goes against the principles of free media."
It should be noted that the governments of the Baltic States have long been trying to restrict Russian media, including Sputnik. In the spring of 2016, Sputnik Latvia was blocked in the.lv domestic domain due to allegations of a violation of a Council of the EU resolution to impose “restrictive measures in connection with a threat to territorial integrity, sovereignty and the independence of Ukraine.” Last month it was reported that Estonian security services recommended that government officials refrain from communication with Sputnik.
Sputnik (sputniknews.com) is a news agency and radio network with multimedia news hubs in dozens of countries. Sputnik broadcasts through its websites in over 30 languages, as well as on analogue and digital radio, mobile apps, and social media. Sputnik newswires, available by subscription, 24/7 in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese.
