Moscow: Monitors of Russia’s media said on Friday that it had restricted access to the BBC and other independent media websites, clutching controls over the internet more than one week after the country invaded Ukraine. Access to websites of the BBC, the independent news website Meduza, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Russian-language website of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Svoboda, were ‘limited’ by Roskomnadzor, following a request from prosecutors.
The agency said that in each case, the prosecutors’ request was filed on February 24, the same day on which Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine. Ekho Mosvky, a liberal-leaning radio station majority-owned by Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, said on Thursday that it would shut down after being taken off air over its coverage of the Ukraine war. Authorities had blocked the Ekho website on Monday and took the station off air as punishment for ‘deliberately spreading false information’ about the conflict.
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Editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov announced in a post on Ekho Moskvy’s Telegram channel on Thursday that it would continue to publish content on YouTube and social media, ‘despite the decision of the board of directors’ who voted to liquidate the radio station and website.
Russian media have been directed to publish only the information provided by official sources, which claims the invasion as a military operation. Russia’s state-controlled television channels meanwhile have doubled down on Kremlin narratives about nationalism in Ukraine, while accusing Kyiv of using civilians as human shields in the conflict. The invasion has claimed hundreds of lives and spurred allegation of war crimes.
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