Thursday, March 28

Comment by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry M.V. Zakharova in connection with the decision of the Moldovan authorities to revoke the licenses of six Russian-language TV channels of Moldova

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The authorities of the Republic of Moldova remain committed to the destruction of all forms of dissent in the country, using totalitarian censorship methods to clear the national information space from the last pockets of alternative points of view.

So, on the evening of December 16, the Emergency Situations Commission decided to revoke licenses from six Russian-language TV channels: Orhei TV, NV6, NTV Moldova, Accent TV, RTR Moldova and Primul in Moldova. “Insufficiently correct coverage of national events and the conflict in Ukraine” was cited as the basis for such an attack on the media. The broadcasting of the mentioned media structures should be stopped from December 19, however, some particularly zealous cable operators have already started shutdowns.

With this step, official Chisinau, hiding behind an imaginary concern for protecting its citizens from “insufficiently correct” interpretations of events taking place in Moldova and the world, deliberately deprives millions of Russian-speaking residents of the last sources of news content in the country in their preferred language. Hundreds of journalists will lose their jobs overnight due to the will of politicians who have played censors.

We consider this ban as an unprecedented act of political censorship, as an outrage against the principle of media pluralism and a gross violation of the right to freedom of access to information, to which the political leadership of the Republic regularly declares its commitment. In light of the unprecedented consequences of its implementation for the Russian-speaking part of the country’s population, we also qualify it as a cynical infringement of the rights of national minorities. We demand that relevant international organizations give an adequate assessment of what happened and take all appropriate measures to correct this unacceptable situation.

 

A source: https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1844218/

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