The Kremlin has slammed comments by the OSCE's media representative as "biased," Interfax reports:
Moscow on Monday slammed the representative on freedom of the media of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, for "one more groundless and openly biased press release" with "artificial anxiety at the future of the Avdet newspaper, published by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People."
"While she calls for law and order in Crimea, Mijatovic is well aware that the Mejlis and the Avdet newspaper controlled by it, which has repeatedly been warned about the unacceptability of public appeals for extremist activities, refuse to stay within the limits of law. In the Russian Federation, the requirements of law are the same for everyone, no exceptions are allowed," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Mijatovic's reproaches appear to be strange in a situation where no mention is made of facts that are extremely important for freedom of expression in Crimea - granting official status to the Crimean Tatar language for the first time in modern history and the complete rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatar people," it said.
"It is deplorable that such overinflated attention to the mass media of the Russian Federation and Crimea as one of its constituents parts, attention that borders on bias, is exerting a negative effect on the quality of media freedom monitoring in the rest of the OSCE member states with their glaring violations that remain outside Mijatovic's proper attention," the ministry said.
"It should be well known in the OSCE, which has fewer member countries than Russia does ethnic groups, that in our country with its rich traditions of peaceful coexistence of various peoples and religious communities there exists special sensitivity for manifestations of extremism, the language of hate, and the fanning of ethnic strife. Along with invariable respect and support for ethnic organizations, we stand for the strict observance of national legislation by them," the statement said.
This ends our live-blogging for September 22, Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Good morning. We are resuming our live blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Tuesday, September 23. Follow our updates throughout the day.