Moscow urges OSCE to react to deportation of Russian journalists from Latvia

MOSCOW, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Moscow expects the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to voice a clear stance on the recent expulsion of Russian journalists from Latvia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

On Thursday, a female journalist from the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) was ordered to leave Latvia within 24 hours for allegedly threatening Latvia's national security, while her husband, who is also a journalist from Russia's state-run TV Tsentr television channel, was deported from the country a day earlier.

"As a full member of the OSCE, Russia is expecting a clear public stance and specific steps from the OSCE representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Desir, as a response to the recent act of expelling Russian journalists from Latvia," the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

A number of Russian journalists have been expelled from Latvia and other Baltic states since 2016 amid their increasingly tense relations with Moscow, triggering certain retaliatory measures from the Russian side. Enditem