Slovak Agency To Cancel Contract With Russia's Sputnik After Uproar

The Sputnik news agnecy has been repeatedly accused of reporting false stories and of fomenting political extremism in the West. (file photo)

Slovakia's state News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR) says it will initiate proceedings to withdraw from a controversial contract with Russia's state Sputnik news agency.

TASR said on March 30 that it will immediately stop making Sputnik's material available to its journalists.

Sputnik announced the contract on March 29 saying it was "happy to work with a major agency like TASR" and that "this deal will help us increase information exchange between our countries."

After an uproar of protest, TASR just one day later reversed course, saying that no Sputnik material had been used during the one-month trial period that led up to the contract.

Sputnik has been repeatedly accused of reporting false stories and of fomenting political extremism in the West.

In February, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told the BBC that Sputnik's aim is "not to convince people, but to confuse them; not to provide an alternative reality, but to divide public opinions and to ultimately undermine our ability to understand what is going on."

Based on reporting by Sputnik, the BBC, and TASR