"This step clearly shows official Riga's desire to clear its information space from independent and not controlled by the state media outlets," the ministry said in a statement.
"We expect corresponding disapproval of this decision of official Riga by relevant international structures and NGOs, first of all, by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir," the ministry added.
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) expressed has also expressed its concern over the ban.
"We are concerned over the politically motivated ban of Baltnews.lv website in Latvia. This is yet another example of harsh censorship of the freedom of speech and media in an OSCE country, which goes against Riga's loud proclamations about adhering to the principles of democracy," the mission said on Twitter.
Обеспокоены блокировкой в Латвии сайта https://t.co/q0z5qlUdTO по политическим мотивам. Это очередной пример жесткой цензуры свободы слова и прессы на территории ОБСЕ, который идет вразрез с громко декларируемыми заявлениями Риги о приверженности принципам демократии pic.twitter.com/lgb60lIQwJ
— Russian Mission OSCE (@RF_OSCE) 24 июля 2019 г.
According to the notification of the national domain registrar, seen by Sputnik, the Latvian Foreign Ministry has ruled that Baltnews.lv violates the European Union's decision, issued on March 17, 2014, on sanctions "in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."
