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Romania
8 April 2026 ‘Political revenge’: Romanian broadcaster shut down after challenging election annulment Realitatea Plus, a Romanian news channel that repeatedly questioned the cancellation of last year’s presidential election has had its broadcasting licence revoked by the National Audiovisual Council (CNA) yesterday, after the station failed to pay 28 fines issued in 2024, totalling 605,000 lei (approximately €122,000). The operator, PHG Media-Invest SRL, had settled more recent penalties but not the older ones, triggering automatic revocation under audiovisual law. The privately owned channel’s supporters claim that it amounts to political censorship. Realitatea Plus had positioned itself as a staunchly sovereignist outlet, fiercely critical of Romania’s political establishment and vocal in its support for independent candidate Georgescu. The channel was paid substantial amounts by the leading opposition party, the Alliance for the Union of the Romanians, led by Simion, for electoral advertising and promotion. Supporters saw it as legitimate access to media for an anti-establishment party often sidelined elsewhere. The channel’s flagship programmes, including Culisele statului paralel hosted by Alexandrescu, openly referred to Georgescu as “the elected President” even after the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the 2024 vote. On November 24, 2024, Georgescu – a little-known nationalist who campaigned almost entirely on TikTok with a “Romania first” message – stunned the country by topping the first-round poll. A run-off against centrist Lasconi was scheduled for December 8. Two days before voting, though, the Constitutional Court cancelled the entire process and ordered a full rerun. The court’s justification rested on declassified intelligence reports from Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) and domestic security service, the SRI. These alleged a Russian ’hybrid aggression campaign’ involving co-ordinated TikTok accounts, influencers and disinformation designed to boost Georgescu. Officials pointed to similarities with Russian operations in Ukraine and claimed illegal campaign financing and algorithmic manipulation. Yet, as critics – including Realitatea Plus – immediately noted, the publicly released documents contained no concrete, verifiable evidence of Russian state involvement, vote tampering or direct funding of Georgescu’s campaign. The papers were described by one detailed analysis as briefing notes full of redactions, contradictions, vague assertions and circumstantial details that could equally describe ordinary digital marketing. Realitatea Plus’s coverage of the annulment – framing it as a ’coup d’état” and highlighting the absence of hard proof – earned it repeated sanctions from the CNA for alleged breaches of impartiality, balance and the dissemination of false information. The station was by some margin the most heavily fined broadcaster in 2024-25. Dozens of penalties linked directly to its Georgescu-focused output and alarmist reporting on the Romanian “deep state”. Yesterday the licence was withdrawn with immediate effect; the station says it will continue online and appeal. Ownership lies with businessman Păcuraru, whose media interests have long been associated with anti-establishment voices. The closure also affected sister station Gold FM for the same unpaid-fines reason. Supporters of Georgescu and the sovereignist Right, including AUR leader Simion, denounced the move as “a coup d’état” and an attack on free speech. Establishment voices and the CNA maintain it was simply the law being applied to a serial offender that had abandoned any pretence of editorial neutrality. Former prime minister Victor Ponta reacted with fierce criticism on the closure of the channel. ’As it stands, this looks like political revenge - and an undemocratic precedent that resembles Russia or Moldova!,’ Ponta said. “We shouldn’t celebrate the closure of a TV station we dislike - because it means that tomorrow, other TV stations, accounts, podcasts, etc., could be shut down, and we won’t have the right to criticise if we don’t do so now”. “And the people who watched that TV station will be even more dissatisfied with the country we live in and will feel even more persecuted by the ‘System’! (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
by Deconinck
Russia
(Monday), 06/04/2026 - 17:23 The Kremlin said today that while there was not yet conclusive evidence it was highly likely that proof would be found showing Ukraine had planted explosives found near a gas pipeline in Serbia which carries Russian gas to Hungary. (Source: France 24)
Serbia
05.04.2026 16:21 In the Kanjiza region of Serbia, explosives and the necessary equipment to detonate them were found in two bags near the TurkStream natural gas pipeline. President Vucic assessed the incident as a potential sabotage attempt and announced that security forces have launched an investigation. Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán also stated that he would convene the defense council urgently. Russian President Putin stated on March 4 that Ukraine's attacks on energy infrastructures have harmed Europe and that there are plans to attack the TurkStream and Blue Stream natural gas pipelines in the Black Sea. Russian energy company Gazprom announced on April 2 that Ukraine had attacked the facility where shipments to the TurkStream natural gas pipeline are made. (Source: Haberler - Turkey)
Slovakia
04.04.2026 In a statement following a phone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Slovakian premier Robert Fico urges EU - and especially the European Commission - to reconsider Russian energy sanctions amid supply crisis, asks bloc to immediately resume talks with Russia and restore oil and gas supplies from all sources, including Moscow. Fico also called for efforts to restore flows through the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. Both countries are currently exempt from certain EU sanctions on Russian oil due to limited alternative supply options. Fico and Orbán have accused Ukraine of delaying the resumption of deliveries through the pipeline for political reasons. (Source: Anadolu Agency -Turkey)
Ukraine
Sunday 05 April 2026 16:13 BST The nature of warfare in Ukraine changes – from a spirited defence against the bloody turmoil of early 2022, to a relentless, grinding conflict in which few sent to the front expect to return. Two years ago in Sloviansk, a major in an infantry battalion spoke of how his commanding officer was taking bribes to give people time to go on leave, set a higher price for keeping them off the front line, and was selling the rations and other resources allocated to men who had deserted. Earlier this year, Ukraine’s defence minister, Fedorov, a Yale University management graduate, admitted that Ukraine has 2 million draft-dodgers and hundreds of thousands more who are absent without leave (awol). On top of the 2 million Ukrainians wanted for evading mobilisation, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office says some 290,000 cases have been opened since 2022 against soldiers for abandoning their posts. "Some troops" have posted videos of their escape from the draft, or from service, across the Carpathian mountains to exile in neighbouring countries. 18- to 24-year-olds were allowed to leave the country last year, and hundreds of thousands chose to do so. Minister Fedorov revealed the scale of the conscription problem to parliament in January. Denys, 37, is dodging the draft. 'I saw everything that was happening – the injustice, plenty of people buying their way out, the untouchables, while others are shoved into a bus despite having illnesses'. A scheme to offer them incentives to join the armed forces, with huge sign-on benefits, has proved a failure, after local press reported high levels of casualties. Draft-dodgers in Ukraine risk being hunted down in the streets and sent to the most dangerous areas with little chance of returning. As a result, many live in hiding if they cannot flee, avoiding being in public at all for fear of being tossed into a vehicle if they are identified. (Source: Independent - United Kingdom)
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