30 more media blocked
Moscow blocks Russian BBC sites
3/16/2022, 6:57 p.m
Allegedly, the West is waging an “information war” against Russia. The Foreign Ministry is therefore blocking the websites of the BBC and 30 other media. If you want independent information about the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine, you need an encrypted VPN connection.
Russia has blocked access to the websites of at least 30 media outlets. Among other things, the Russian authority Roskomnadzor blocked the BBC website, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. This is “only the beginning of retaliatory measures for the information war that the West has unleashed against Russia,” she added.
Russian and foreign media such as the award-winning investigative website Bellingcat, two Russian-language Israeli news sites and regional portals such as Permdaily.ru became unavailable from Russian IP addresses on Wednesday. The websites are on the official blacklist of the media regulator Roskomnadzor.
Only accessible with VPN
Among the blocked media are also several Ukrainian media such as the independent media Kawkasi Usel (Kawkas-usel.eu), which reports on the Caucasus, an Estonian portal that operates a Russian-language version, and a media from the city of Ust-Kut in Siberia (ust-kut24.ru). Some Ukrainian media such as novosti.dn.ua and bukinfo.ua and a Bulgarian media (news.bg) and a website with news about the Ukrainian football club Dynamo Kyiv (dynamomania.com) were also blocked. The websites could still be reached with programs for encrypted communication via so-called virtual private networks (VPN).
Since the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have massively restricted access to online media. International online networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are also affected. At the beginning of March, President Vladimir Putin also signed a law that provides for draconian prison sentences for “false information” about the Russian army. Journalists from abroad are also officially forbidden from speaking of “war”, “invasion” or “invasion” in neighboring Ukraine. Violators can be punished with up to 15 years imprisonment.