Russia outlaws top independent news site in latest crackdown
An independent news website that has been critical of Russia’s military action in Ukraine has been declared “undesirable” by the government
MOSCOW (AP) — An independent news website that has been critical of Russia's military action in Ukraine was declared “undesirable” by the government Thursday, effectively outlawing its operation within the country as part of the Kremlin's latest crackdown on dissent.
Founded in 2014 and based in Latvia, Meduza for years has been one of the most popular independent Russian-language news sites, with an audience of millions. The site was blocked in Russia nearly a year ago, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began, along with websites of multiple other independent news outlets. It can still be accessed through virtual private networks.
The decision by the prosecutor-general’s office came on the same day that the publisher of the Mediazona website, which reports on the legal system and law enforcement, said he was charged in absentia with spreading false and defamatory information about the Russian military.
Russian authorities also evicted from its property a human rights center named in honor of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, and they closed the country’s oldest human rights organization.
