Russia’s Foreign Ministry has strongly criticised a decision by Moldova to ban a number of Russian TV channels in the country.
In a statement, quoted in The Moscow Times, the ministry said “it is becoming increasingly difficult to hear voices expressing alternative points of view” from those offered by Western media.
The statement added: “”We cannot regard the decision of the Coordination Council for Television and Radio Broadcasts to restrict broadcasts of the television channels Channel One, NTV and Rossiya-RTR as anything but political censorship and a gross violation of the right to freedom”.
The ministry also said that that the ban was in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights, “which has set limits of freedom of expression”.
Moldova initially banned Rossiya 24 in July and has followed in the footsteps of Ukraine, which has banned several Russian channels in the last few months.