Russia’s blocking of a liberal radio station and an independent TV channel has shaken remaining independent media in the country that see the invasion of Ukraine as opening up a “second front” against them.
Russia’s prosecutor general, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, ordered the country’s media watchdog to “restrict access” to the Ekho Moskvy Radio Station and the Dozhd TV Channel.
Report suggested that the ban stems from the “purposeful and systematic” posting of “information calling for extremist activity and violence” and “deliberately false information about the actions of Russian military personnel” in Ukraine.
The past year has seen an unprecedented crackdown on independent and critical voices in Russia. Dozens of media workers and independent outlets, including Dozhd, have been described as“foreign agents” by authorities.
A term with Soviet-era undertones, the status obliges those hit with the label to disclose sources of funding and label publications, including social media posts, with a tag or face fines.
The day after the ban on Dozhd TV Channel was handed down, the channel’s Editor-in-chief, Tikhon Dziadko, announced on Telegram that he had fled Russia, like some of his colleagues, saying he was “in danger”. The latest shutdowns were due to the independent media refusing to toe the official line on the war in Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, the action in neighbouring Ukraine is a military operation, not invasion, designed to protect Russia from the West and to protect Russian speakers from “genocide.”
‘Censorship is already in place’
At the same time, the government is preparing to tighten its repressive legal arsenal.
Parliamentarian, Sergei Boyarsky, disclosed to the state-run TASS news agency that a bill providing for up to 15 years in prison for any publication of “fake news” concerning the Russian armed forces will be examined in the Duma (a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions) during an extraordinary session on Friday, March 4, 2022.
The prosecutor’s office stressed over the weekend that “providing financial, logistical, consultative or other assistance” to a foreign organisation or state for “their activities against the security of Russia” constitutes high treason, and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The vague wording of the law makes it applicable in a broad number of cases.
Director of the Meduza news website, Galina Timchenko, which publishes in Russian and English and is based in EU-member Latvia, said“There are enough laws in Russia to condemn a journalist for any reason. And enough tools to eliminate a media outlet.”
“Censorship is already in place,” she stated, after Russia’s ban in the media of the words “invasion,” “offensive” and “declaration of war” issued on Saturday, February 26, 2022.
There is also a ban on mentioning civilian deaths caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, Meduza welcomed its readers with the word “war” written in large letters.
“In any case Russia’s media regulator (Roskomnadzor) will soon pull the plug on us,” journalist Meduza noted on the website, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Information war
Lev Ponomarev, a respected human rights activist who has already been arrested for demonstrating against the war, like thousands of other Russians at small gatherings across the country, said “Other media will soon be blocked.”
According to Jeanne Cavelier, the Russian head of the Reporters Without Borders, an NGO, said there is a “blanket ban coming down.”
Cavelier also said, in addition to Ekho Moskvy Radio and Dozhd TV Channel, at least, six other Russian media outlets have been blocked by Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) since the invasion of Ukraine began on Thursday, February 24, 2022.
Cavalier has predicted that no independent media will survive in Russia, not even the opposition newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, whose Editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.
The “war on the media” is “the second front” of the invasion of Ukraine, says Timchenko.
Timchenko discloed that “The Kremlin is afraid of losing this information war.” Meanwhile, state-run media are in overdrive.
Dmitry Kiselyov, considered a Kremlin mouthpiece with a long-running Sunday TV programme, proclaimed during a presentation of Russia’s nuclear forces, “what’s the point of having a world in which Russia no longer exists?” Kiselyov is on the EU sanctions list introduced over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
“It’s as if we’re going back to the Soviet era, except that now the Internet exists,” said Cavelier, who expects independent websites to be blocked and journalists to be arrested.
Alexei Mukhin, Director of the pro-Kremlin Centre for Political Information in Moscow, said “censorship is simply impossible in the Internet era” and has denied any offensive against respectable media.
On the other hand, Russian authorities are facing “political opponents who have gone mad and are participating in an information war, spreading Ukrainian propaganda and generating panic”, Mukhin stated.
For Meduza’s Timchenko, there is little doubt on the outcome of the Kremlin’s battle against independent media.
“I have the impression that Putin’s final goal is to keep only those who are in his favour. The rest will be forced to flee or be eliminated.”
The Director of the Meduza news website, Galina Timchenko
READ ALSO: U.S. Mulls Sanctions on Russia’s Oil and Gas Industry
