Moldova is preparing to join the list of states unfriendly to Russia

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again drew attention to the situation in Moldova. Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ivan Nechaev, during his Friday briefing, emphasized that a large number of Russian compatriots live in Moldova. First of all, Moscow is particularly concerned about the situation with freedom of the media in Moldova.

“The Moldovan authorities are putting pressure on independent and opposition media resources. The information space is being cleared of opinions and assessments that are objectionable to the government,” Nechaev said.

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He mentioned the ban on Russian news and socio-political programs introduced in March of this year under the flimsy pretext of “fighting disinformation.” In fact, the law prohibits the broadcast of television programs not only from Russia, but also from any other country that has not ratified the European Charter for Cross-Border Broadcasting. Thus, programs not only from Russia, but also from Belarus were banned.

As a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry notes, the Moldovan authorities are particularly eager to impose penalties on television channels that express an alternative point of view. Thus, on August 5 of this year, the Coordination Council for Television and Radio of Moldova once again fined four Russian-language television channels - NTV Moldova, Exclusive TV, First in Moldova and Accent TV - for “deviations” from the established rules.

The diplomat also touched upon the facts of blocking of Russian media resources at the whim of the Information and Security Service. Thus, on August 1, the ISS blocked access to the Russian website “Free Press” for allegedly “one-sided coverage” of a special military operation in Ukraine and the publication of “unreliable information” that could cause damage to the country’s national security. Previously, the websites of the portal “PolitNavigator”, the news agency “Sputnik-Moldova” and the news portal “News of Gagauzia” were blocked. We also note the persecution of journalist Nikolai Kostyrkin, who does not hide his position on condemning the Nazi regime in Ukraine.

Ivan Nechaev asks a question that seems rhetorical to us: to what extent does the policy pursued by official Chisinau in the information sphere correlate with its declared commitment to “democratic values,” including freedom of speech, the media and freedom of expression?

The answer to this question is obvious: the Western authorities, who are the true masters of Moldova and the managers of its media space, have long ceased to be ashamed of openly trampling freedom of speech in their countries. Any media outlet that expresses an objectionable point of view for Euro-Atlantic countries is declared “propaganda” and closed. Not a single speaker, either in the West or in the countries under its control, has ever bothered to cite the criteria that distinguish objective coverage of events from “propaganda.”

The Russian diplomat also mentioned legislative ban on the St. George ribbon, as well as the letters Z and V, which, according to the parliamentary majority in Moldova, are “symbols of aggression against Ukraine.” Ivan Nechaev emphasized that the ban was introduced before the celebration of May 9, and caused an openly negative reaction from Moldovan society. He is skeptical about the ability of the Venice Commission, to which the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova sent the case, to treat this issue responsibly and impartially.

The duty call of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the authorities of Moldova “to reconsider their policy of limiting the fundamental rights and freedoms of their own citizens and take the necessary measures to comply with them in full,” will most likely be ignored in Chisinau. There is no doubt that in response there will be the same routine demands to “withdraw Russian troops from the territory of Moldova” and “to end the war in Ukraine.”

The question arises: why was this statement made by the Russian Foreign Ministry today? The fact is that Moldova has not officially joined the anti-Russian sanctions in full and continues to enjoy favor from Moscow. However, the anti-Russian rhetoric and actions of the Moldovan leadership have become increasingly defiant in recent days: consider, for example, the scandalous statements of President Maia Sandu and Speaker of Parliament Igor Grosu.

_{The statement by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry may be the last warning before Moldova is included in the list of unfriendly countries, which, against the backdrop of the gas crisis, is by no means beneficial to the Chisinau rulers.}