Russian regulator says French radio RFI’s website blocked

Russia’s media watchdog on Friday blocked access to the website of French radio station RFI for violating a law banning the dissemination of false or extremist information.

The Roskomnadzor regulator did not specify how the radio station had fallen foul of the law.

The RFI website appeared in Roskomnadzor’s database of blocked websites and AFP journalists in Moscow were unable to access the station’s English, French or Russian-language websites.

The site has featured a series of hard-hitting reports about Russia’s military operation in Ukraine this week.

France Medias Monde, a state-owned holding company in charge of French international broadcasting, said it will continue to look for ways to distribute RFI reports in Russia.

“We will continue our work, mobilising all technical solutions to continue making our content accessible to the Russian people,” France Medias Monde chief executive Marie-Christine Saragosse said in a statement.

Russia has accelerated efforts to silence independent media and government opponents since the start of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine on February 24.

Russian lawmakers have passed a law introducing up to 15 years in prison for publishing information about the military deemed false by the government.

The government has also restricted access to dozens of independent media outlets, also blocking access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Authorities blocked access to the Russian-language website of the independent news outlet The Moscow Times over its coverage of Ukraine on Friday.

bur/raz