Russia’s media regulator blocks more than 30 additional news websites
Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, also known as Roskomnadzor, blocked access to more than 30 websites on Wednesday, including Novye Izvestia, a publication that has historically been critical of the Kremlin.
The list of blocked websites includes two Russian-language Israeli news sources, Channel Nine and Vesti Israel.
The website of the investigative group Bellingcat was also blocked.
The Belarusian Euroradio and the Estonian Postimees were also on the list.
Virtually all independent media in Russia has been shut down as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A recent draconian censorship law punishes individuals for deviating from the official Kremlin narrative about the invasion of Ukraine. The law stipulates that offenders could serve prison terms as long as 15 years if found guilty.
Russia has also blocked most Western social media sources, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
In an interview with MSNBC, Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza explained, “one day last week I woke up... there was no Twitter, there was no Facebook, all the remaining independent media outlets… shut down their websites.” Kara-Murza likened it to a “truly Orwellian reality”.