In Russia, access has been restricted to the websites of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the women’s expert community She is an expert, the “Go to the Woods” project page, and other resources. This was reported by the human rights project Roskomsvoboda.
Here, an “unspecified government body,” which human rights defenders are convinced is the Prosecutor General’s Office, has blocked the ECPMF website. The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom is not included in the register of “undesirable” organisations. Its website contains publications about the wars in Georgia and Ukraine, so human rights defenders have suggested the blanket block (of domains and subdomains) may be related to military censorship.
The reason for restricting access to the She is an expert feminist project resource is unknown. The site features publications about politics, art, business, and other spheres of life. Some of them discuss the war in Ukraine.
The 26th Garrison Military Court was the initiator of the latest blocking of resources of the human rights project “Go to the Woods,” issuing a decision to ban the page containing basic information on conscription for military service.
A segment of the Channel One programme “Let Them Talk” from 2012, dedicated to teenage suicides, was also blocked—following a decision by Rospotrebnadzor, which has the authority to restrict content about suicide. The segment is already unavailable on the Channel One website.
Roskomnadzor also blocked the website of VPN service Bebra VPN, and by order of the Prosecutor General’s Office, access to the website of the Free Russia Institute was restricted. Roskomsvoboda believes the reason for the block is the institute’s connection to the “Free Russia Forum,” which in 2023 was added to the list of “undesirable” organisations.
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Illustration: OVD-Info