"Latvia has blocked our website Baltnews.lv: we are allegedly ‘threatening the Ukrainian territorial integrity and independence.’ They are citing the European Union. Do I understand it correctly that we can now block any European media in Russia if it seems to us that they are threatening the sovereignty of Tajikistan, for example?" Simonyan wrote on her Telegram channel.
According to the notification of the national domain registrar, seen by Sputnik, the Latvian Foreign Ministry has ruled that Baltnews.lv, which is a part of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, violates the European Union's decision, issued on 17 March 2014, on sanctions "in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine".
The Russian Foreign Ministry described the Latvian move as an open attempt to clear the informational field of independent media.
The ministry called on relevant non-government organisations and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to condemn the Latvian decision to block the website.