Russia's communications authority has asked two Georgian online media outlets, Netgazeti.ge and Accentnews, to delete a Russian-language item relating to Moscow's conflict against Ukraine, according to Netgazeti.ge and Accentnews.
The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) is said to have written to Netgazeti in response to a report concerning the death of Russian major-general Oleg Mityaev in Ukraine.
A snapshot of communication published by Netgazeti shows Roskomnadzor threatening to block access to the media outlet for 24 hours if the story is not removed. A document attached to the message, according to Netgazeti, described any publication of items containing "untrustworthy" information concerning Russia's "special military operation," battle procedures, and Russian army losses as a breach.
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office had ordered Roskomandzor to take steps to block access to the news story due to "information distribution violations," according to the letter.
Accentnews stated that it had received a similar threat from Moscow in response to a news story that the President of the Russian film festival Kinotavr had cancelled this year's event due to Russia's war against Ukraine.
Earlier, the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) blocked access to the Azerbaijani information and analytical portal Haqqin in Russia.
Roskomnadzor argued the decision to block the site haqqin.az with federal legislation, according to which access to the resource is restricted if it contains information calling for unrest, extremism, as well as for the dissemination of unreliable information replicated under the guise of "reliable messages."
Roskomnadzor made the decision to block the Azerbaijani internet publication based on the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation.
Azerbaijan's Press Council published a statement in response to Russia's shutdown of several Azerbaijani news websites. According to the statement, "a number of Azerbaijani news websites are prohibited in Russia. The reason is that Russia is dissatisfied with Azerbaijani media reporting on Ukraine and their objective stance in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Oxu.az has been blacklisted in Russia, after the websites Haqqin.az and Minval.az."
