n_97844_1 Turkey’s Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication (TİB) has blocked access to Russia’s state news agency website Sputnik, without issuing prior notification, citing “legal consideration” of a law regarding crimes committed through online broadcasts.

“After technical analysis and legal consideration based on Law No. 5651, an administration measure has been taken for this website (sputniknews.com) according to decision No. 490.05.01.2016.-56092, dated 14/04/2016, of the Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication,” reads an error message that appears when users attempt to access the website from Turkey.

Sputnik Turkey editor-in-chief Mahir Boztepe announced the blockage on his Twitter account, adding that Turkish users were denied entry not only to the agency’s Turkish website but also to all its websites in 31 languages.

“Access blockage to Sputnik from TİB. No justification, many pretexts,” Boztepe tweeted, adding a message addressed to the Turkish media: “Do not fear, these days shall pass.”

No one was available for comment at Turkey’s telecoms and Internet regulatory agency, Reuters reported.

In a statement, Sputnik’s top editor, Margarita Simonyan, described the block as “a further act of harsh censorship” in Turkey and said the site had been blocked late on April 14, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin made comments criticizing “some political leaders” in Turkey.

Turkey faced strong criticism from both the European Parliament and the U.S. State Department on April 15, after the former’s progress report and the latter’s annual human rights report slammed the country for a sharp deterioration in civil rights and liberties.

Relations between Ankara and Moscow have been tense since Nov. 24, 2015, when the former downed a Russian warplane on the Turkish border with Syria, citing an airspace violation. Turkey claims that it warned the Russian aircraft multiple times before shooting it down, while Russia denies any warnings reaching its side.

Following the jet downing, Putin imposed sanctions on Turkey and trade between the two countries has plummeted.

Sputnik reporters have been shelled in the city of Martakert in Nagorny-Karabakh region on Sunday.

The correspondents of Sputnik Armenia have come under fire in Nagorno-Karabakh amid a sharp escalation of the situation in the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh area, with both sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire that has been in place since 1994.

Earlier in the day, a Sputnik correspondent reported that artillery fire was exchanged by armed forces of Azerbaijan and the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR).

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991. In September 2015, the conflict escalated, with the sides blaming each other for violating the truce.

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