The Russian media regulator on Monday blocked access to the site of the French channel Euronews, a new media banned in Russia amid increased control over information related to the offensive in Ukraine.
According to Russian news agencies, Roskomnadzor blocked the site of the euronews.com channel and its Russian version ru.euronews.com at the request of the Prosecutor's Office.
The reason for this blocking was not specified.
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Since the beginning of the Russian intervention in Ukraine on February 24, the Russian government has considerably strengthened its control of information disseminated on the internet, one of the last spaces for free expression in the country.
Many Russian and foreign media, including the BBC, were banned from access and American social networks Facebook and Instagram were declared
"extremist"
by a Moscow court on Monday.
Access to Twitter has also been restricted.
Last week, Roskomnadzor further accused US giant Google and its video service YouTube of
"terrorist"
activities , a first step towards a possible blockage.
At the same time, the authorities introduced two new criminal offenses in early March: one for the dissemination of information
“discrediting”
the Russian army and the other for the dissemination of
“false”
information about Russian troops.
This latest offense provides for penalties of up to fifteen years in prison and is of particular concern to opponents and the independent media, who fear prosecution for any denunciation of the offensive.