Roskomnadzor has already blocked 125,000 materials about the war in Ukraine

In 2022, at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Roskomnadzor blocked 125 thousand publications about the war in Ukraine. This was reported by the Prosecutor General of Russia, Igor Krasnov.

According to him, the Prosecutor General’s Office sent more than 1,700 requests to Roskomnadzor for the extrajudicial blocking of materials, including the article about fakes about the Russian army. In 2021, there were 650 such requirements.

As a result of requests from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the agency deleted more than 190,000 publications, 66% of which related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Also, Krasnov reported that 187 cases have already been initiated under the article about fakes. Of them, 78 were investigated and sent to court, and 67 people went through them. Krasnov noted that the article has no “deterrent effect” on foreign resources covering the war in Ukraine.

• An article about fakes about the Russian army was added to the Criminal Code of Russia shortly after the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• The Russian authorities call any information about the war in Ukraine, different from the version of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, fake. According to the criminal article on spreading fakes, he faces up to 15 years in prison. According to human rights activists, this article actually introduced military censorship in Russia.
• Due to the introduction of an article about fakes, most independent mass media were forced to suspend their work or refuse to cover the war in Ukraine. Media employees left en masse for other countries in order to continue their work and avoid criminal prosecution.
• Also, after the invasion of Ukraine, an article on the discrediting of the army appeared in the Russian Administrative Court. Discreditation in Russia is considered, for example, to use the word “war” instead of “special military operation” in relation to the war in Ukraine.
• The article provides for a fine of up to 50,000 rubles, and for repeated violations, a criminal case with a penalty of up to five years in prison is threatened. According to “Mediazona”, by mid-December, more than 5,500 cases were filed on the article about discrediting.