The Russian media are forced by the government to remove any reference to civilians killed by the Russian army in Ukraine, as well as the terms “invasion”, “offensive” or “declaration of war”.
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The Russian population is “cut off from the world, from the point of view of information”, laments Saturday, February 26, on franceinfo, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders. The power exercises censorship in the media on the story of the conflict in Ukraine. “It feels like going back 50 years with forbidden words, like ‘invasion’ or ‘offensive'”relates Christophe Deloire.
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“All Russians are deprived of their legitimate right to information”, denounces the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders while the Russian media regulator ordered the national media, on Saturday February 26, to remove from their content any reference to civilians killed by the Russian army in Ukraine, as well as the terms ” invasion”, “offensive” or “declaration of war”. The regulator also requires the media to use only official sources to talk about the war. Access to social networks is also limited.
“A few days ago I met a Russian journalist who was in Paris and who told me how journalists who simply had Western subscribers were accused of being foreign agents”says Christophe Deloire again. “You can be accused of just about anything, which makes it possible to silence journalists worthy of the name and fill the silence of a propaganda apparatus”.
Independent media are “not many” in Russia, says Christophe Deloire. “There is Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov’s newspaper which won the Nobel Peace Prize this year but which, in the course of its history, has had five journalists killed, including Anna Politkovskaya”he adds.