Moscow Slams ‘Discriminatory’ Treatment of Its Journalists in Moldova

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the ban on a team of Russian journalists from visiting Moldova a "blatant violation of basic freedom of speech."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned "openly discriminatory" treatment of Russian mass media in Moldova after a team of Russian journalists was banned from visiting the country for no reason earlier Monday.

"The openly discriminatory treatment of Russian mass media by Moldovan authorities is a blatant violation of basic freedom of speech and yet another step in the deliberate campaign to eliminate alternative sources of information from the media space," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that more and more Russian citizens, including political scientists and reporters, are being denied entry into Moldova "under false pretexts."

"We hope that Chisinau realizes the consequences of such actions for the Russian-Moldovan relations," the statement reads.

On March 18, Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Director General Dmitry Kiselev and fellow Russian journalist Andrei Kondrashov received 5-year entry bans from Moldovan authorities.

The Russian Foreign Ministry then called on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to evaluate Moldova's refusal to allow Russian journalists into the country.

Also in March, a Russian TV crew that planned to cover local elections in one of Moldova's regions were deported from the country.