On Monday, Moldova blocked access to 31 websites, including 21 managed from Russia, and said that they had been used in an "information war" against Chisinau.
"Amnesty International Moldova is joining organizations that have signed the declaration where they express their concern over continuous practice of suspension of licenses of broadcasters without detailed explanations as regards factual and legal circumstances that could justify restriction measures. We are urging the authorities to immediately provide arguments and evidence that were the basis of the decision [to block websites]," Amnesty International Moldova said in a statement on Tuesday.
Following Moldova's decision, Russian High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova earlier on Tuesday addressed UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion Irene Khan and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro to influence Moldova in order to prevent censorship. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said also on Tuesday that Moscow considers Chisinau’s decision to block access to Russian language media websites a "hostile step."
Earlier in the year, Chisinau accused the head of the Sputnik desk in Moldova, Vitaly Denisov, of being a national security threat. The authorities expelled Denisov from the country and barred him from entering Moldova for 10 years.
Chisinau also cited national security concerns as the reason for blocking Sputnik Moldova's radio broadcasting and websites after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.