(Moscow) The Internet pages of Facebook and several independent media were partly inaccessible Friday in Russia, at a time when the Russian authorities are tightening their grip around critical voices, in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
Posted at 7:30 p.m.
The GlobalCheck monitoring service and AFP journalists in Moscow found problems accessing the Facebook site, as well as those of the media Meduza, Deutsche Welle, RFE-RL and the Russian-language service of the BBC.
On its Telegram account, the Meduza media indicated that its site no longer opened to “some of its users” in Russia, but specified that it had not yet received a notification from the authorities about a blockage.
Deutsche Welle, RFE-RL and the Russian-language service of the BBC are financed respectively by Berlin, Washington and London. In Russia, their journalists regularly publish critical Kremlin investigations.
Last month, Deutsche Welle was banned in Russia and its reporters forced to stop working.
Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities have stepped up their pressure against the last independents.
In particular, the power is preparing a hardening of its repressive arsenal. A bill, which provides for up to 15 years in prison for any publication of “fake news” concerning the Russian army, will be examined Friday in the Duma.