Chişinău

The European Parliament has voted to cut off financial aid to Moldova for breaking democratic standards by cancelling elections in the Moldovan capital.

The centre-right grouping in the parliament, the European Popular Party, EPP, introduced the resolution on Thursday.

An explosion caused by a grenade going off in a shop in Moldova's capital Chisinau on Tuesday killed two people and wounded three.

Local police investigating the case said that the explosion, which happened at around noon, was an "accident".

Moldova courts on Tuesday jailed a former deputy, Iurie Bolboceanu, for 14 years, for "betraying his homeland" by spying for Russia.

The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Special Investigations, PCCOCS, said the Russian Military Intelligence Agency, the GRU, recruited him from October 5, 2016, to March 17, 2017.

A major social network in Moldova is being used to spread Russian propaganda, according to a study made public on Friday by the Institute for Public Policy and developed in the framework of a project funded by the German Marshall Fund.

Romania wants to increase its investments in Moldova, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said in Chisinau on Tuesday.

At the end of a meeting with her Moldovan counterpart Pavel Filip, she said that one of the related priorities of Romania is the operation of the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline.

Moldova's Audiovisual Coordinating Council, CCA has fined 11 radio and TV stations and seven cable network providers 5,000 lei (around 240 euros) each because they did not deliver an overview of their programming output as required by the country's new 'anti-propaganda' law.

Moldovans are moving over to Facebook and dumping its Rusian rival, according to a new survey.

The number of Facebook accounts in Moldova rose in 2017 by 19.3 per cent from 2016 to 910,000, according to a report by Gramatic brand agency.

Moldova's National Bank on Thursday said Russian investors no longer hold first place among foreign investors in the country, in terms of direct investment in domestic economic stock.

Citing new data, it said that The Netherlands and Spain took first and second place in the ranking of foreign investors. Third place went to France, followed by Cyprus and Romania.

The volume of trade between Turkey and Moldova rose by nine times in the last 15 years, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Hakan Cavuşoğlu said on Dec. 19 in the Moldovan capital Chisinau.

The US ambassador to Chisinau, James Pettit, said on Sunday that Russian propaganda and internal political control over broadcasters are endangering freedom of the media in Moldova.