In one day, the quality of life of millions of Russians, although far from the Ukrainian front, has largely deteriorated.
Just like the image of democracy in this country.
Blame it on the Kremlin's turn of the screw.
This Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law introducing heavy prison sentences for anyone publishing "false information" about the army, in full invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.
In other words, any discourse dissonant with that taken up repeatedly by the state media.
The amendments, passed shortly before by MEPs, also include penalties for "calls to impose sanctions on Russia", which faces harsh Western retaliatory measures.
The penalties incurred, which can go up to 15 years in prison, will be applied against those who disseminate "false information" resulting in "serious consequences" for the Russian armed forces.
These texts apply to the general population, and not only to information professionals.
The words war and invasion banned in the media
They aim to strengthen the repressive arsenal of the authorities who are tightening their control of information in the midst of an offensive on Ukraine, blocking Facebook, independent media and restricting Twitter.
The measures taken reinforce the arsenal of the authorities to control the account they give to the Russian population of the invasion of Ukraine, presented as a limited operation aimed at protecting Russian-speaking Ukrainians from a “genocide”.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: everything you need to know to be informed without being manipulated
The BBC (British public broadcaster) reacted to these measures by announcing the suspension of the work of all its journalists in Russia, while the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta - whose editor, Dmitry Muratov, is the last Nobel peace - said he was "forced to delete a lot of content" to avoid sanctions, but wanted to "continue to work".
Meta, Facebook's parent company, confirmed, lamenting that "millions of ordinary Russians will soon be deprived of reliable information".
Regarding the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities have banned the media from using information other than official statements on this subject.
They banned the use of words like “war” and “invasion”.
