Russia’s media watchdog Roskomnadzor has banned two more independent news websites in the ongoing crackdown of “false” information about the Ukraine invasion. Multiple local and international news websites have been blocked since the beginning of the invasion.
On April 9, the websites of independent news outlets Kholod and Diskurs were blocked by Roskomnadzor, with the order coming from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Kholod had received two warnings from the media watchdog in the past two weeks, demanding they delete their reports about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement, Kholod said: “We are not going to obey censorship, especially military censorship in the country that even does not accept that it started a war.”
However, Diskurs said it had not received any warnings, and was not told why its website was blocked.
Since the beginning of the invasion, multiple local and international news websites have been blocked in Russia. Local outlets were ordered to only use official government sources when reporting about the invasion. They were also ordered to call it a “special military operation,” not an “invasion” or a “war.”
In early March, the government passed a new “fake news” law that carries a sentence of up to 15 years for distributing false information about the country’s military.
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