Vladimir Putin’s threats are worrying. On Friday, the Russian president signed a law introducing heavy penalties for anyone publishing “false information” about the army, in the midst of an invasion of Ukraine by Moscow. Penalties of up to 15 years in prison will be applied against those who disseminate information with “serious consequences” for the Russian armed forces.
German and Italian utilities withdraw
Consequently, many media announce in turn suspending their coverage from Russia and withdrawing their correspondents from the country for fear of reprisals. This Saturday, Radio France announced that it was suspending the correspondence of its journalists in Russia.
Earlier in the day, the German public television channels ARD and ZDF had announced the temporary suspension of their coverage from Moscow, the time “to examine the consequences” of the new law. Ditto on the side of RAI, the Italian public television, which interrupted “the journalistic services of its own envoys and correspondents […] in order to protect the safety of journalists on site”.
Efe, the first Spanish-speaking press agency in the world, also announced this Saturday “suspending” its activity in Russia after the vote on this law. “The Efe agency deeply regrets this serious attack on freedom of expression, an obvious attempt by the Kremlin to hide the truth from public opinion”, commented the president of the press organ Gabriela Cañas.
Other media are “assessing the situation”
This Friday already, several international media had reacted to the signing of the law by the hands of Vladimir Putin. The Bloomberg News agency said it would temporarily suspend its “news gathering work in Russia”, according to its editor John Micklethwait. British public broadcasters BBC and Canadian CBC/Radio Canada also announced the same decision.
The American news channel CNN, for its part, explained that it was suspending the broadcasting of its programs in Russia “time to assess the situation”, as did ABC News. For their part, the washington post and the Reuters news agency also want to take the time to gauge the evolution of the state of affairs.
