Illegal to say ‘war.’ Russian Duma passes draconian law against spreading ‘fake news’ on the ‘military operation’ in Ukraine

DW

Up to fifteen years in prison for, in essence, refusing to publish outright lies and propaganda. These are the actions of a government that is terrified of their public finding out the truths of what is being done in their name, and of learning the real reason why their economy is collapsing. Meanwhile, foreign news sources are being shut down within Russia - 

Moscow (AFP) – Russian lawmakers moved Friday to impose harsh jail terms for publishing "fake news" about the army, which a senior lawmaker said will apply to foreigners too, as Moscow moves to muffle dissent over its invasion of Ukraine. 

The new legislation sets out jail terms of varying lengths and fines against people who publish "knowingly false information" about the military. 

"If the fakes led to serious consequences, (the legislation) threatens imprisonment of up to 15 years," the lower house of parliament said in a statement. 

Speaking at the session, the head of the head of the parliament's information committee Alexander Khinshtein said the law "concerns all citizens, not only Russian ones, because we are talking about actions against Russia." 

Amendments were also passed to fine or jail people calling for sanctions against Russia with jail terms. 

The past year has seen an unprecedented crackdown on independent and critical voices in Russia that has intensified since the invasion. 

The chairman of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin railed against foreign social media after Facebook was briefly inaccessible in Russia on Friday. 

"All these IT companies beginning with Instagram, and ending with the others, are based in the United States of America. It is clear they are used as weapons. They carry hatred and lies. We need to oppose this," he said. 

Russia's media watchdog said Friday it had restricted access to the BBC and other independent media websites, further tightening controls over the internet. (Read more)

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