MOSCOW, July 04. /ITAR-TASS/. The Moscow Union of Journalists considers the ban on the broadcasting of Russia’s Rossiya-24 television channel in Moldova to be aimed against Russia and Russian media. This view has expressed Pavel Gusev, the union’s head and editor-in-chief of the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.

“The ban on the broadcasting of Rossiya-24 channel, popular with Russian-speaking population, is an extremely unfriendly act against our media,” Gusev said, adding that by doing so, Moldova repeated Ukraine’s bitter experience, although there was no actual conflict between Moldova and Russia.

“The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs should notify the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. It is unclear why the OSCE remains silent,” he said, noting that both Russian authorities and foreign services should take measures in this situation.

Banning the broadcasting of Russian TV channels in Moldova infringed upon the rights and interests of the country’s Russian-speaking population, he said.

Earlier in the day, the Coordination Radio and TV Broadcasting Council of Moldova suspended the programs of Rossiya-24 channel’s programs until January 1, 2015, due to the “inconsistency of its programming with the provisions of Moldova’s Broadcasting Code”.

At present, the broadcasting of four Russian channels – Channel One, RTR-Planeta, Rossiya-24, and NTV-Mir is suspended in Ukraine.