MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. A ban on entering Moldova for the Russian reporter Darya Aslamova, a correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, is a hostile step against the Russian Federation on the part of Moldova’s pro-EU government, Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry told a news briefing on Thursday.
"We fully agree with the description of the incident by Moldovan President Igor Dodon as a hostile step against the Russian Federation on the part of the country’s government," she said,
"On our part, we immediately turned to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Mr. Harlem Desir for a professional assessment of the Moldovan authorities’ outrageous actions that undermine the fundamental principles of free speech," Zakharova said. "We also issued a note to the Foreign Ministry of Moldova."
On Tuesday, Moldovan Border Police denied an entry of the country’s territory to the Russian reporter Darya Aslamova who had come to Chisinau for arranging an interview with the country’s President, Igor Dodon. Aslamova had an official invitation from him.
Moldovan authorities have denied entry of the country to Russian political analysts, public personalities, and reporters on many occasions in the past. The list of the Russian media affected by these denials includes, among others, the television channels NTV, Ren TV, LifeNews and others.
At the end of July, the border officials stopped a group of Russian performers who were traveling to Transdniestria, an independence-minded region of the country also known as the self-proclaimed Dniester Republic. The performers were expected to take part in the official events devoted to the 25th anniversary since the start of the peacekeeping operation in Transdniestria.
In August, the government declared Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin a persona non grata.