The Foreign Ministry considered Moldova’s decision to block Russian-language portals a hostile step

The decision of the Moldovan authorities to block access to Russian-language news portals is a hostile step, and the purpose of such a policy is to eradicate any manifestations of dissent, it says comments official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

“This openly hostile step towards Russia became another manifestation of the thoughtless anti-Russian course of official Chisinau <...> The medium-term goal of such a policy is to oust Russian-language content and media from the information space of Moldova, and a more ambitious goal is to eradicate any manifestations of dissent and disagreement with the policies of the authorities,” the message says.

Information and Security Service of Moldova about restrictions reported Earlier on October 24, providers were ordered to block access to 22 Russian media sites. Among them are the resources of Channel One, VGTRK, RT, NTV, etc.

The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that the Sputnik Moldova website was blocked in the republic back in February 2022, and since March of the same year, a ban on Russian news and socio-political television programs has been in effect. In December, the licenses of six Russian-language television channels were revoked for “insufficiently correct” coverage of events in Ukraine.

“It is significant that the decision to block 22 portals was made less than two weeks before the general local elections in Moldova on November 5, against the background of low ratings of candidates of the current authorities,” Zakharova noted.

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that in this way the republican authorities want to improve their position before the vote.

At the beginning of October Russia banned entry into the country for the Chairman of the Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Moldova, Liliana Vitsu, and journalist Mikhail Sirkeli. Vitsu and Sirkeli, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, are involved in restrictions on the rights of Russian journalists in the republic. On September 13, the head of Sputnik Moldova, Vitaly Denisov, was expelled from Moldova. After this, the Foreign Ministry declared a strong protest in connection with “the ongoing politically motivated persecution of Russian-language media” in the republic.