Sandu on the Closure of TV Channels: It’s Ridiculous that Russia Criticizes Us

President Maia Sandu commented on the decision of the Commission for Emergency Situations, according to which 6 TV channels were deprived a broadcasting license during the state of emergency. “This decision is aimed at curbing illegal financing, that is what we are talking about. All these TV channels, as explained by the government and the CES, are funded with illegal money and are therefore engaged in propaganda and division, which is not what the media should be doing. The press should provide correct and objective information. This is the solution the government has found. There is a need for inclusive content in Russian, which is quite scarce and we need to work on it, the truth should be told in Russian. But illegal funding is a problem for the democratic process as a whole, and we will fight it, whether it is the media, political parties or election campaigns,” the head of state said, as quoted by unimedia.info. The president also commented on Russia’s accusations of restricting free speech because of this decision. “It is ridiculous that the Russian Federation, which kicked out or closed all free mass media, is teaching us democracy lessons. We are interested in the opinion of the international community and our citizens, and if you look, in international ratings Moldova’s rank is much better than Russia’s and even some EU states’ when it comes to press freedom. We care about freedom of expression. All Moldovan citizens can hear someone criticizing the government from morning till night, which is not the case in the Russian Federation. We are not accepting democracy lessons from the Kremlin,” the president said.