The Moscow Times (MT) and Radio France Internationale (RFI) Friday reported that the Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked access to their websites.

MT said that its Russian-language service has been blocked by the communications regulator based on a request by the Prosecutor General’s office. Roskomnadzor’s universal restriction check service confirms that the MT site’s IP address is being blocked. MT’s English-language website remains accessible. The regulator has not provided any reasons for the restrictions.

MT recently published a story about Russian soldiers who allegedly refused to fight in Ukraine and returned home. According to MT, this story has been highlighted as a violation of the Roskomnadzor’s directive to use “only official Russian sources when covering the situation in Donbas.”

RFI said access to its English, French and Russian-language websites has been blocked in Russia for “dissemination of false or extremist information.” In March, German newspaper Bild was blocked based on similar allegations of “posting calls for mass disorders, extremism and participation in unauthorized rallies” by the prosecutor general.

On March 4, President Putin signed amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which sought to protect the truth about the “special military operation in Ukraine.” The law has been dubbed a “total information blackout” by UN experts. The federal law introduced criminal liability for the public dissemination of deliberately misleading information and discrediting the use of the Russian Federation Armed Forces. Transgressors may face blocking and up to five million rubles in fines.

Independent media publications such as Bumaga, Meduza, BBC, Belingcat and TJournal facing restrictions have criticised the law as a means to use the press to perpetuate the Kremlin’s warmongering by penalising non-alignment with the position of the Ministry of Defence.