Mass media that disseminate fake information about the situation in Ukraine face fines. This was reported on February 26 by the press service of Roskomnadzor.
It is clarified that the department sent notifications to a number of Russian resources demanding to restrict access to unreliable information about the actions of the Russian military in Ukraine. In particular, according to Roskomnadzor, some journalists publish false information that civilians in Ukraine suffered from the actions of the Russian military, writes Gazeta.Ru.
We are talking about such media as: “Echo of Moscow”, “InoSMI”, “Mediazona”, New Times, “Rain”, “Free Press”, “Crimea.Realii”, “Novaya Gazeta”, “Journalist”, “Lenizdat (Part of these resources – Mediazona, Dozhd, Krym.Realii – are recognized as media-foreign agents).
“Roskomnadzor has also launched administrative investigations into the dissemination of unreliable publicly significant information by the listed media. This offense entails liability under Article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation in the form of an administrative fine in the amount of up to five million rubles.
The experts emphasized that “it is the Russian official information sources that have reliable and up-to-date information.”
On February 24, Roskomnadzor announced a wave of fake publications on the Internet about a special operation carried out by Russia to protect Donbass.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. After that, the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of hitting the country’s military infrastructure and introduced martial law throughout Ukraine. He also said that Kyiv is breaking off diplomatic relations with Moscow and withdrawing its diplomats from the embassy.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the army did not carry out air missile or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine. The civilian population of the country is not in danger. High-precision weapons destroy military infrastructure.
On February 21, the heads of the DPR and LPR, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, asked Putin to recognize the independence of the republics. The corresponding decrees were signed in the evening of the same day. In the presence of the leaders of the republics, the President of the Russian Federation also signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and assistance. The documents were ratified the next day by both the republics themselves and the Russian State Duma.
The situation in Donbass escalated on February 17, 2022. In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces was reported, including from heavy weapons. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kyiv blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.