German, Baltic foreign ministers condemn arrest of Russian rights activists

FILE PHOTO: Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, vice chairman of Open Russia, testifies before a Senate Appropriations State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on "Civil Society Perspectives on Russia" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 29, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

BERLIN (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Germany and the Baltic states said they strongly condemned the arrest and sentencing of Russian human rights activists and called on Russia to release them immediately, according to a joint statement issued on Wednesday.

"In parallel to its war, Russia has further intensified suppression of free speech, punishing its own citizens for their opposition to violence and repressing pro-peace protesters," the ministers of Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said in the statement.