This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The U.S. State Department has accused Moscow of mounting “a full assault on media freedom and the truth” as officials there seek to “mislead and suppress” information about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The statement follows Russian media closures and the detention of hundreds of people in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Russian cities since anti-war protests erupted following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s launch of the full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24.
“The people of Russia did not choose this war. Putin did,” the State Department said. “They have a right to know about the death, suffering, and destruction being inflicted by their government on the people of Ukraine. The people of Russia also have a right to know about the human costs of this senseless war to their own soldiers.”
Roskomnadzor earlier warned media across the country that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cannot be called “war” or an “invasion,” and should instead be referred to as a “special military operation in Ukraine.”
The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in its first extraordinary session in decades on March 2 to “deplore” Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine” and demand a withdrawal of troops.
The editorial offices of RFE/RL’s Russian Service received six notifications from Roskomnadzor late on March 2 in which the Russian media-monitoring agency threatened to block the service’s website amid ongoing coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
The service reported that Roskomnadzor said it would use its powers to block news on Svoboda.org about the shelling of Kharkiv, in Ukraine, as well as the hacking of some Russian websites by cyber-actors sympathetic to Ukraine and material about social-media reactions to the hostilities.
The media regulator said the materials “delivered deliberately false socially significant information about Russia’s alleged attack on the territory of Ukraine” in ways that could “create panic among people.”
RFE/RL last week rejected Roskomnadzor’s threat to block its Current Time website in Russia unless it deleted information about the invasion.
“We will not comply,” RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said, defending the organization’s factual reporting about soldiers killed or captured in Ukraine.
One of Russia’s leading media outlets, Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy, was taken off the air amid a Russian crackdown on independent media covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to editor in chief Aleksei Venediktov.
And Tikhon Dzyadko, the chief editor of the independent online television channel Dozhd TV, said on March 2 that and colleagues had left Russia indefinitely after the channel’s website was blocked by government authorities.
The State Department said both were “baselessly” accused of wrongdoing and noted that they are respected news outlets with histories of accurate reporting.
It also cited the Russian government’s “throttling Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms” that are used by many Russians.
It said Roskomnadzor had “threatened to block other online platforms and Golos Ameriki (VOA Russian) if they do not comply with requests to take down reporting on Russia’s invasion.
“We call upon Putin and his government to honor Russia’s international obligations and commitments, to immediately cease this bloodshed, withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s territory, and to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of their own citizens,” the State Department said.
