Russia on Saturday condemned the decision by the neighboring Republic of Moldova to temporarily suspend the broadcasting license of six local television stations, calling the measure “political censorship”, Reuters reported.

“We believe that this ban is an unprecedented act of political censorship, an abuse of the principle of media pluralism and a gross violation of the right to free access to information, which is periodically claimed by the political leadership of the Republic of Moldova,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“In light of the unprecedented consequences of the implementation of this ban for the Russian-speaking part of the country’s population, we qualify it as a cynical violation of the rights of national minorities,” added the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

According to the decision approved on Friday at the meeting of the Commission on Emergency Situations chaired by the Prime Minister of Moldova Natalia Gavrilica, the activity of six television stations of the Republic of Moldova will be suspended during the state of emergency. These are Accent TV, NTV Moldova, Orhei TV, Primul in Moldova, RTR Moldova and TV6.

• Read also: The Republic of Moldova suspended the broadcasting license of six TV channels that broadcast Kremlin propaganda

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The channels, some of which broadcast in Romanian and others in Russian, have close ties to politician and businessman Ilan Shor, who fled the country in 2019 after pro-Western President Maia Sandu was elected. While in exile in Israel, Ilan Shor supported the protests in Chisinau, which demanded the resignation of the government.

The ban will take effect on December 19 and will remain in effect for the duration of the state of emergency declared by the Moldovan authorities after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

The initial 60-day state of emergency has been renewed several times and is set to expire in February 2023.

The channels will lose their licenses “for spreading false information during coverage of the events in Moldova and the war in Ukraine,” the special commission for monitoring the state of emergency states in a statement.

Among the six channels are some of the most popular ones in the Republic of Moldova. Shor owns three of them. The other two belong to his relatives, and the sixth sympathizes with the exiled politician.

The Republic of “Moldova must be protected from propaganda and lies,” Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Spinu wrote on his Telegram channel. Six channels, an official from Chisinau said, covered the events in the Republic of Moldova and the war in a “biased and manipulative way.”

For his part, Moldovan Economy Minister Dumitru Alaiba called the six television channels “tools of the Russian military machine”: “We are in a hybrid war, and these organizations are tools of the military machine of the Russian Federation.” in our country. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with the freedom to deny war, promote hatred, propaganda and lies.”

• Read also: Maia Sandu on the suspension of six television stations in the Republic of Moldova: This measure is aimed at protecting the information space and preventing disinformation