The Commission for Exceptional Situations, on the recommendation of the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS), suspended the licenses of six TV channels. According to the authorities, these channels pursue foreign goals for destabilization purpose, IPN reports.

“In the Republic of Moldova, we are daily subject to attacks on the part of the Russian Federation. Over the past few weeks, these threats have increased in intensity. Russia, through the agency of organized criminal groups, wants to influence the local elections of November 5 and to undermine the democratic process,” stated Primer Minister Dorin Recean.

In a press briefing, SIS director Alexandru Musteața said that it was proposed suspending the licenses of six TV channels for the period of the state of emergency. These channels are: Orizont TV, ITV, Prime, Publika TV, Canal 2, and Canal 3. These channels work with multiple violations of the legislation, as the Audiovisual Council and the SIS ascertained, and pose a threat to information security. These TV channels constantly promote manipulative narratives that, alongside the informational aggression pursued by the foreign factor, generate an additional source of instability. Their editorial policy is aimed at launching a national disinformation campaign.

“We possess evidence that the Russian Federation influences the local elections of November 5 and undermines the democratic process in our country. This happens by several methods that imply the illegal financing of election campaigns, vote buying and corruption of candidates, and also by well-planed disinformation campaigns through the agency of particular TV channels, websites and social networking sites,” stated the SIS director.

Also on Monday, by order of Alexandru Musteața, another 31 websites that alter the information broadcast in the public sphere will be blocked. The list is available on the SIS’s website.

In December 2022, the Commission for Exceptional Situations of the Republic of Moldova ordered to suspend the broadcast licenses of six TV channels, namely Primul în Moldova, RTR Moldova, Accent TV, NTV Moldova, TV6, Orhei TV. It argued that the given TV channels were monitored and penalized by the Audiovisual Council for absence of correct information in covering national events and the war in Ukraine and also that these channels were under the control of private individuals and/or legal entities that were subject to international sanctions.