Russia’s media watchdog has restricted access to the BBC and other independent media Web sites, it said yesterday, while lawmakers approved legislation to impose fines and harsh jail terms for publishing “fake news” about the army, in the latest move to silence dissent one week after Moscow invaded Ukraine.
Access to the Web sites of the BBC, independent news site Meduza, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and the Russian-language US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty were “limited” by Roskomnadzor following a request from prosecutors.
The agency said that in each case, the request was filed on Thursday last week, the day Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his attack on Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
The limits came as the Russian State Duma approved a bill that sets jail terms of varying lengths and fines against people who publish “knowingly false information” about the military.
“If the fakes led to serious consequences, [the legislation] threatens imprisonment of up to 15 years,” the Duma said in a statement.
Amendments were also passed to fine or jail anybody calling for sanctions against Russia.
Opening the parliament’s session, Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin railed against foreign social media, after Facebook was briefly inaccessible in Russia yesterday.
“All these IT companies beginning with Instagram, and ending with the others, are based in the United States of America. It is clear they are used as weapons. They carry hatred and lies. We need to oppose this,” he said.
The past year has seen an unprecedented crackdown on independent and critical voices in Russia that has intensified since the invasion.
Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Chairman Valery Fadeyev said that Western media was behind “a huge flow of false information that comes from Ukraine,” adding that the council had set up a project to stop it.
In another attack on critical voices, Russian police yesterday searched the office of the country’s most prominent rights group, Memorial, which was ordered to close late last year, sparking an international outcry.
Russian media have been instructed to publish only information provided by official sources, which describe the invasion as a military operation.
State-controlled broadcasters have reinforced government narratives and Moscow’s claim that Ukrainian soldiers are using civilians as human shields.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS