Rights defenders point to toughening censorship in Russia

After February 24, 2022, Russia has adopted the laws that allow blocking any information that is not consistent with the official authorities' position, as well as prosecuting authors of posts. A total of 5300 sites have already been blocked; the work of human rights defenders and journalists has become much more difficult, the authors of the analysis on the state with human rights in the country have pointed out.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 4, liability for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces was introduced, after which Russians began being prosecuted under this article.

Since the start of the military operation in Ukraine, many censorship laws have been enforced, including the law on fakes about the Russian Army, which makes it possible to block any information that contradicts the official authorities' position, as well as to prosecute the authors of such messages and those who disseminate them.

Authorities became more active in applying the laws on foreign agents. Thus, since February 24, a total of 66 persons or organizations have been labelled as foreign agents; many media outlets have closed or started working from abroad. All this leads to narrowing of the information environment.

After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the work of human rights defenders, journalists and non-commercial organizations (NGOs) is subject to very severe restrictions. It is impossible to "criticize the Russian military operation," to come up with pacifist slogans, to talk about civilian victims if the responsibility for them in imposed on Russia.