Moscow has expressed dissatisfaction with the BCC sanctions against the televisions rebroadcasting Russian programs in Moldova

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) to sanction four media outlets that rebroadcast Russian programs in Moldova for lack of pluralism and other violations of the Moldovan legislation.

“We can only regard as political censorship and serious violation of the right to freedom of speech the decision of the Broadcasting Coordinating Council of the Republic of Moldova to apply sanctions against Prime, TV 7 and RTR Moldova televisions, adopted after monitoring Russian programs rebroadcast by them,” says the press release of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the press release, the main goal of sanctions was to reduce the presence of Russian media in the information space of Moldova.
On 7 October, the Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) decided to suspend for 72 hours the right to air advertizing on the Ren Moldova channel and to apply maximum fines (of MDL 5,400) to Prime, TV 7 and RTR Moldova channels. The decision was made following the monitoring of Russian newscasts “Vremya”, “Segodnya”, “Vesti” and “Novosti 24” rebroadcast by these televisions. The BCC members found that these newscasts failed to provide pluralism of opinions.

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