Sputnik Moldova Receives Notification of Website Termination

MOSCOW/CHISINAU (Sputnik) - Editors of Sputnik Moldova said that they had received a notification from the Moldovan authorities that the news agency's website will be shut down on Saturday and its radio broadcast blocked on 7 March.

Sputnik Moldova's editorial office announced that as of Saturday morning, three versions of its website - in Moldovan, Russian and Romanian - are blocked in the country.

"On February 26, Director of the Security and Intelligence Service issued an order providing for the blocking of two sources of online content that disseminate information inciting hatred and war in a state of emergency. Thus, the portals www.sputnik.md and www.gagauznews.md are subject to blocking," the statement read.

Earlier in the day, the Security and Intelligence Service of Moldova published a statement about an order to block two resources, including Sputnik.

The blocking came on the back of Russia's special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine, responding to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics for help in countering the aggression of the Ukrainian troops.