LIVE The director of SIS holds a press conference. Alexandru Musteață proposed to CSE the suspension of the activity of six TV stations and signed an order to block 31 web portals
The director of the Information and Security Service (SIS), Alexandru Musteata, holds a briefing on ensuring information security in the context of hybrid attacks against the Republic of Moldova.
UPDATE 11:35 Alexandru Musteață: "Another topic related to ensuring informational security is related to the online domain. In accordance with the provision of the Commision for Emergency Situations (CSE), the SIS analyzes the reflection of the information by the Web portals, and in the case of finding actions that fall within the criteria established by the CSE, an order is issued regarding the blocking of Web resources. Thus, today an order was signed by which 31 web portals will be blocked, 21 of which are directly managed by the Russian Federation. It is obvious that there is a sign of equality between the Plahotniuc criminal group and the Şor group in the national media. Their actions are in tandem with the entire hybrid arsenal of the Russian Federation directed against the Republic of Moldova, and by today's CSE decision, the state protects our informational space".
UPDATE 11:30 Alexandru Musteață: "The arguments that formed the basis of our proposal are the following: by CSE provision no. 54 of December 16, 2022, in order to ensure the information security of the Republic of Moldova, the broadcast licenses of several TV stations were suspended. However, their beneficial owners resorted to a tactic to circumvent the respective provisions and migrated the content to other TV stations. E.g; the media content of TV 6 and Primul in Moldova, the broadcast of which was stopped by the provision of the CS no. 54 of December 16, 2022, migrated to Orizont TV and ITV. At the same time, the migration of the entire logistics apparatus was fixed. In this context, concerted actions were fixed between the Șor group and the media holding managed by the Plahotniuc group. Thus, during the last months, constant financial strengthening actions were fixed, especially during the election campaign of the TV stations Prime and Publika TV, managed by the company General Media Corp SRL and Canal 2 and Canal 3, managed by SRL Telestar Media - companies directly and indirectly controlled by Vladimir Plahotniuc to be adapted to the pro-Sor editorial policy".
UPDATE 11:21 Alexandru Musteață: "This happens through several methods involving illegal financing of electoral campaigns, buying votes and corrupting candidates, but also through well-designed disinformation campaigns through certain TV stations , websites and social networks. The mentioned are part of the arsenal of the hybrid war waged by Russia against our country.
In this context, today I proposed to CSE to suspend, during the state of emergency, the licenses of six TV stations: Orizont TV, Itv, Prime, Publika TV, Canal 2 and Canal 3. The activity of these stations is carried out with multiple violations of the legislation , found by the CA, but also based on the information held by the Service and represents a danger to information security.
UPDATE 11:15 Alexandru Musteață: "In recent months we have observed an intensification of informational attacks and an increase in risks to national security, with an exponential increase, especially during the election period. We have operative information, but also evidence that the Russian Federation is influencing the local elections on November 5 and undermining the democratic process in our country".
