New York, April 8, 2025 —Moldova’s unrecognized Moscow-backed breakaway state of Transnistria is considering legislation that could add to an increasingly hostile atmosphere for media there, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Journalists in Moldova and its breakaway republic have faced a slew of challenges this year, including detentions, violence and online harassment as tensions rise between pro-Russian factions and those who wish Moldova to be aligned with the West.
On March 31, the Supreme Council, Transnistria’s legislative body, registered amendments to Transnistria’s Code of administrative offenses which provide for fines of up to 800 Moldovan lei (US$45) for freelancers and journalists whose media are based outside Transnistria and who work without accreditation in the region — a sliver of disputed territory situated between Moldova and war-torn Ukraine and hosting Russian troops since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
“The proposed legislation will make media coverage of the breakaway region of Transnistria, already notorious for its poor press freedom record, even more difficult,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “All journalists should be able to travel to and report from Transnistria freely to keep the public informed of the current situation and local issues.”
The bill is intended to ensure “more objective coverage” of Transnistria and combat “the dissemination of fake information about the political, economic and social life of the Transnistrian society,” since the “main task” of unaccredited journalists is “often to write negative material about the life” of the region, according to an “explanatory note” published on the Supreme Council’s website.
“This abusive initiative only confirms the regime’s tendencies to suppress critical voices and block any form of objective documentation of the realities in the territory,” Moldovan human rights organization Promo-LEX said in a statement on April 2. A Promo-LEX policy analyst, Mihaela Șerpi, said she believed the law would be adopted soon.
A parliament spokesperson said any questions should be addressed to the relevant ministry. CPJ emailed the press service of the breakaway government but got no response.
CPJ has documented reports of at least eight journalists who have been obstructed or detained while reporting in Transnistria in recent years. Șerpi told CPJ that another bill registered in the Supreme Council in January 2025 provides for criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for residents of the region who collect, store, and transmit personal data or “classified” information to foreign citizens, organizations, or authorities. “As a result, residents of the region who collaborate with journalists [from outside Transnistria] could be affected,” Șerpi told CPJ.
Anti-press rhetoric and intimidation
In addition to problems with access to Transnistria, over the last year, journalists in Moldova have faced increased challenges in the context of highly-polarized presidential elections and the freezing of U.S. foreign aid meant to strengthen independent media.
The 2024 presidential campaign which resulted in the reelection of the pro-Western president Maia Sandu witnessed a significant rise of anti-press rhetoric by the opposition’s pro-Russian political forces, as well as acts of intimidation.
Independent media have faced increased stigmatization with allegations that they relied on U.S. foreign aid being actively used to undermine trust in them.
Aside from Transnistria, another autonomous region of Moldova, Gaugazia, has pro-Russian sympathies, but has not broken away. News coverage there has been an issue for years and has become all the more challenging.
Hostility towards journalists from opposition politicians, as well as online harassment and violence, have occurred outside Gagauzia and Transnistria.
On March 7, in front of a court in Chișinău, Moldova’s capital, an unidentified woman — who came to support a pro-Russian member of Moldova’s parliament who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia on March 19 on charges of illegal political financing — hit and insulted Măriuța Nistor and Igor Ionescu, a reporter and a camera operator with Moldovan newspaper Ziarul de Gardă, the newspaper said.
Shortly after the incident, a network of “troll” accounts disputed the altercation, and posted hundreds of offensive messages under a post published by Nistor.
CPJ’s email to the Chisinau police did not receive any response.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.