New Delhi: Several Western media outlets have suspended operations in Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed a new law that makes it a crime to disseminate “fake” information on the Ukraine war with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
BBC has “temporarily suspended the work of its journalists and staff in Russia”.
CNN said it “will stop broadcasting in Russia while we continue to evaluate the situation and our next steps moving forward”.
ABC News and CBS News too have temporarily refrained from broadcasting from Russia.
Bloomberg News has suspended the work of its journalists inside Russia.
The Washington Post said it will “exercise caution while seeking clarity about how these reported restrictions would affect Washington Post correspondents and local staff”.
The Wall Street Journal said its “top priorities are the safety of our employees and covering this important story fairly and fully”.
Reuters said it was assessing the situation.
Russia has also blocked access to Facebook. Facebook, Russia said, had engaged in “discrimination against Russian news media” by restricting pro-Kremlin accounts.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk said Starlink “will not block” Russian news “unless at gunpoint”. “Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” he tweeted.
Starlink was activated in Ukraine last week after Kyiv digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov appealed to Musk to provide it with more stations.
The European Union (EU) has banned Russian state-funded RT and Sputnik from the 27-nation bloc.
Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022
