June 3 (SeeNews) - Moldova's parliament said it adopted in second and final reading a ban on Russian news broadcasts in the country and introduced fines for anyone spreading disinformation.
Moldovan TV channels will only be allowed to broadcast Russian entertainment programmes, the parliament said in a press release on Thursday.
The bill also stipulates that at least 50% of the foreign TV shows broadcast in Moldova should be originally produced in the EU, the U.S. and Canada. In March, Moldova applied for membership in the European Union.
A ban on Russian TV news programmes imposed by the government's Committee for Emergency Situations has been in force since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February but so far it has not been included in any piece of legislation.
Romanian is the official language of Moldova, spoken by over 76% of the population, but the country has a significant Russian-speaking minority. Around a tenth of the country's population of 2.7 million lives in the Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria. In March, Moldovan president Maia Sandu reiterated a call for the withdrawal of Russian troops stationed in Transnistria and asked for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the region controlled by pro-Russian separatists, a day after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe designated it as a territory occupied by Russia.
With a population of some 470,000, Transnistria is situated on a strip of land tucked between the Dniester river and Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine. After a violent separation in 1992, Russia decided to station several thousand troops in Transnistria to support the separatist region.