Russia officially blocked access to Facebook marking the latest crackdown against social media platforms and independent media outlets in the country since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
In a statement explaining its decision on Friday, Roskomnadzor, the Russian media watchdog said, Facebook, owned by Meta, was discriminating against Russian state-run and state-funded media by placing restrictions on the accounts of outlets such as Russia Today and the Russian military TV channel Zvezda.
“Since October 2020, there have been 26 cases of discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook,” the state censorship body said.
Following the decision, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s president of global affairs, said “soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out.”
He added that the company would do “everything we can to restore our services” to allow users to express themselves and “organise for a
In the past year, Russia has regularly wielded the threat of penalties such as fines and slowing or shutting access to social media platforms, to get them to restore or restrict content. It has issued Facebook numerous fines in recent months.
But restrictions have intensified sharply since the Ukraine war began last month. Big Tech has increasingly been dragged into the information battle that has raged following Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Roskomnadzor has also shut down major local liberal outlets such as Echo of Moscow and TV Rain, while others like the BBC have had their websites blocked.
Meta-owned Facebook, as well as Google’s YouTube, Twitter, Apple and TikTok all announced this week that they would remove RT and Sputnik from their platforms in the EU.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have also been applying labels to Kremlin-backed media for users outside of the EU, and paused the ability for the outlets to make money from advertising that runs alongside their content.
A bomb blast during Friday prayers in a mosque in northern Pakistan has killed at least 56 people according to hospital officials and injured about 195 others.
The attack took place at the Kocha-e-Rasladar Mosque in Peshawar, near to the border with Afghanistan.
Muhammad Ali Saif, advisor to the chief minister, said: "Two men fired on the police personnel manning the entrance to the mosque, one gunman was killed while the other ran inside the mosque and blew himself up."
Image:At least 56 people were killed in the explosion
An eyewitness said that the man who ran inside was dressed in black and at first fired five to six bullets before detonating a bomb.
He said: "There were many bodies lying around and he helped take some of the injured out."
Advertisement
The other attacker and a policeman were killed in the gunfight, and another police official was wounded.
Friday prayers were taking place inside the mosque where about 150 people had gathered on the ground and first floor.
More on Pakistan
Related Topics:
The injured have been taken to the Lady Reading hospital and a spokesperson has said "ten are in critical condition".
Image:Several others were taken to hospital with injuries, with 10 in critical condition
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and has sought a report from the authorities.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said the attack was a pre-planned act to destabilise the country, but gave no evidence to support his claim.
He said: "There was no security alert about an attack and external forces want to disturb the peace."
Image:Over the last few years, thousands of Shia's have been killed in terror attacks across the country
The minority Shia community in Pakistan have been often targeted by the more fundamental Sunni forces.
Over the last few years, thousands have been killed in terror attacks across the country.
On 11 January 2021, Shia coal miners were kidnapped in the Baluchistan region and shot.
The state and intelligence services have been accused of turning a blind eye to the Sunni jihadi groups and others who attack minority communities in Pakistan.
Image:Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attack and has sought a report from the authorities
The attack in Peshawar comes as the Australian cricket team is on tour of Pakistan and is playing its first test match in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.
Pakistan hasn't hosted any international cricket teams for 11 years, after the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009.
Russian lawmakers attend a session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia March 4, 2022. Russian State Duma/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Russia to impose jail terms, fines for fake news
Those who lied will be punished - Duma chairman
Russia limits access to BBC Russian service
BBC: access to accurate information is human right
Russia says it is fighing an information war
MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) - Russia's parliament on Friday passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally "fake" information about the armed forces as Moscow fights back in what it casts as an information war over the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian officials have repeatedly said that false information has been intentionally spread by Russia's enemies such as the United States and its Western European allies in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people.
Russian lawmakers passed amendments to the criminal code making the spread of "fake" information a criminal offence punishable with fines or jail terms. Lawmakers also imposed fines for public calls for sanctions against Russia.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
"If the fakes lead to serious consequences then imprisonment of up to 15 years threatens," the lower house of parliament, known as the Duma in Russian, said in a statement.
The Duma outlined a sliding scale of punishments for anyone deemed to have discredited the armed forces, with stiffer penalties for those who intentionally spread fake information or called for unsanctioned public action.
The amendments, which could not be viewed by Reuters on the Duma's website, appear to give the Russian state much stronger powers to crack down.
"Literally by tomorrow, this law will force punishment - and very tough punishment - on those who lied and made statements which discredited our armed forces," said Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Duma.
President Vladimir Putin said the "special military operation" was essential to ensure Russian security after the United States enlarged the NATO military alliance to Russia's borders and supported pro-Western leaders in Kyiv.
Russian officials do not use the word "invasion" and say Western media have failed to report on what they cast as the "genocide" of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.
The amendments have to be approved by the upper house of parliament before going to Putin to be signed into law.
'TOUGH PUNISHMENT'
Russian opposition leaders have warned that the Kremlin could crack down on dissent after Putin ordered a special military operation in Ukraine.
Even without the law on fakes, Russia's communications watchdog has restricted access to the Russian-language websites of the BBC and Radio Liberty for spreading what it cast as false information about the conflict.
Russia has repeatedly complained that Western media organisations offer a partial - and often anti-Russian - view of the world while failing to hold their own leaders to account for devastating foreign wars such as Iraq and corruption.
Western leaders have for years raised concerns about the dominance of state media in Russia and say the freedoms won when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 have been rolled back by Putin.
Russia's RIA news agency said access to the websites of BBC Russian service as well as Radio Liberty and the Meduza media outlet were being limited, citing the media watchdog's official register.
According to an official notice received on March 3, the Russian communications watchdog said Radio Liberty's Russian service had spread "obviously fake socially significant information about the alleged Russian attack on Ukrainian territory".
"Such information is wrong," Radio Liberty cited the official notice as saying.
Britain's BBC said access to accurate information was a fundamental human right and it would continue its efforts to make its news available in Russia.
"Access to accurate, independent information is a fundamental human right which should not be denied to the people of Russia, millions of whom rely on BBC News every week," the BBC said. "We will continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world."
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Moscow bureau
Writing by Guy Faulconbridge
Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
BBC: access to accurate information is human right
Russia says it is fighing an information war
MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) - Russia's parliament on Friday passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally "fake" information about the armed forces as Moscow fights back in what it casts as an information war over the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian officials have repeatedly said that false information has been intentionally spread by Russia's enemies such as the United States and its Western European allies in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people.
Russian lawmakers passed amendments to the criminal code making the spread of "fake" information a criminal offence punishable with fines or jail terms. Lawmakers also imposed fines for public calls for sanctions against Russia.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
"If the fakes lead to serious consequences then imprisonment of up to 15 years threatens," the lower house of parliament, known as the Duma in Russian, said in a statement.
The Duma outlined a sliding scale of punishments for anyone deemed to have discredited the armed forces, with stiffer penalties for those who intentionally spread fake information or called for unsanctioned public action.
The amendments, which could not be viewed by Reuters on the Duma's website, appear to give the Russian state much stronger powers to crack down.
"Literally by tomorrow, this law will force punishment - and very tough punishment - on those who lied and made statements which discredited our armed forces," said Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Duma.
President Vladimir Putin said the "special military operation" was essential to ensure Russian security after the United States enlarged the NATO military alliance to Russia's borders and supported pro-Western leaders in Kyiv.
Russian officials do not use the word "invasion" and say Western media have failed to report on what they cast as the "genocide" of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.
The amendments have to be approved by the upper house of parliament before going to Putin to be signed into law.
'TOUGH PUNISHMENT'
Russian opposition leaders have warned that the Kremlin could crack down on dissent after Putin ordered a special military operation in Ukraine.
Even without the law on fakes, Russia's communications watchdog has restricted access to the Russian-language websites of the BBC and Radio Liberty for spreading what it cast as false information about the conflict.
Russia has repeatedly complained that Western media organisations offer a partial - and often anti-Russian - view of the world while failing to hold their own leaders to account for devastating foreign wars such as Iraq and corruption.
Western leaders have for years raised concerns about the dominance of state media in Russia and say the freedoms won when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 have been rolled back by Putin.
Russia's RIA news agency said access to the websites of BBC Russian service as well as Radio Liberty and the Meduza media outlet were being limited, citing the media watchdog's official register.
According to an official notice received on March 3, the Russian communications watchdog said Radio Liberty's Russian service had spread "obviously fake socially significant information about the alleged Russian attack on Ukrainian territory".
"Such information is wrong," Radio Liberty cited the official notice as saying.
Britain's BBC said access to accurate information was a fundamental human right and it would continue its efforts to make its news available in Russia.
"Access to accurate, independent information is a fundamental human right which should not be denied to the people of Russia, millions of whom rely on BBC News every week," the BBC said. "We will continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world."
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Moscow bureau
Writing by Guy Faulconbridge
Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has survived three attempts to assassinate him thanks to anti-war officials within the Russian Security Services (FSB) giving his team tip-offs.
Both mercenaries of the Kremlin-backed Wagner group and Chechen special forces had been tasked with killing the president in the past few days, but their attempts have so far failed, The Times reports.
The Wagner forces are said to have suffered a lot of losses in their bid to eliminate Mr Zelensky, while a source close to the group told the news outlet they found it “eerie” how his security team appeared to be well briefed.
An elite group of Chechen special forces, known as Kadyrovites, had sought to “eliminate” the Ukrainian leader but were “destroyed” on Tuesday night, according to Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council chief Oleksiy Danilov.
“We are well aware of the special operation that was to take place directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president,” Mr Danilov said, according to a Telegram post written by the Center for Strategic Communications.
“I can say that we have received information from the FSB, who do not want to take part in this bloody war,” Mr Danilov said. “And thanks to this, the Kadyrov elite group was destroyed, which came here to eliminate our president.”
“It only takes one of them to get lucky and everyone goes home with a bonus,” The Times was told.
According to Dr Sean McFate, a former private military contractor, Wagner forces have been deployed by Mr Putin “as shock troops, as assassins… as a fifth column in front of the Russian invasion”.
Their goals will be “to cause mayhem, to cause fear… not to worry about collateral damage or human rights, to be as brutish as necessary, and to be as clever and cunning as needed”, says McFate, speaking to i from Washington.
“They’ll be in small groups of three to eight. They will blend in, they will not wear uniforms, they will speak Ukrainian.”
UK sanctions oligarch Usmanov and ex-minister Shuvalov
Will face freeze of more than $80 mln in UK property
Lawmakers criticise government for being too slow
Government sees legal barriers, considers law change
LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Britain sanctioned two more Russians on Thursday - industrialist Alisher Usmanov and former deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov - after criticism that it was taking too long to target people with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Usmanov - an Uzbekistan-born metals and telecoms tycoon who Britain said was worth $18.4 billion - is best known in Britain for his investment in and former sponsorship of Premier League soccer clubs Arsenal and Everton.
Shuvalov is a former aide to Putin who now chairs Russian bank VEB, itself under Western sanctions. As deputy prime minister he led Russia's successful bid to host the 2018 soccer World Cup.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
"For as long as Putin continues his barbaric attack on innocent Ukrainians we will continue to exert every power we have to inflict maximum economic pain on Putin and his war machine," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a 'special operation' that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists - a pretext dismissed by Ukraine and the West as baseless propaganda.
Since Russia launched the invasion on Feb. 24, Britain has imposed sanctions on 11 wealthy Russians plus Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, as well as four Belarusian military officials. read more
Usmanov and Shuvalov have had their British assets frozen, face travel bans, and British citizens and businesses are barred from dealing with them.
The foreign ministry said Usmanov owned a mansion worth 48 million pounds ($64 million) and an estate southwest of London, while Shuvalov owned two luxury apartments in central London worth 11 million pounds.
ABRAMOVICH PRESSURE
Johnson is facing mounting criticism from opposition politicians and some of his own lawmakers for what they say is a slow response on sanctions.
Britain has so far sanctioned fewer people than the European Union, which on Monday imposed sanctions on 26 prominent figures, including oligarchs and people active in the oil, banking and finance sectors. read more
There have been growing calls for Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea soccer club, and others to be included in sanctions. But the government has said it must have a solid legal case that their finances are linked to Putin's administration before sanctioning any individuals.
Abramovich's spokeswoman declined immediate comment on a Times report on Thursday that he was not facing imminent sanctions. He announced on Wednesday he would sell Chelsea Football Club and donate money from the sale to help victims of the war in Ukraine. read more
British lawmakers have said any delay in imposing sanctions means their targets can move wealth and assets out of Britain before they are designated.
"The government's failure to keep pace with the EU and the U.S. on sanctions is allowing Putin-linked oligarchs to salvage hundreds of millions in assets," said David Lammy, the foreign affairs spokesman for the main British opposition Labour party.
A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that because of the high bar still required to impose sanctions it was now seeking to change the law.
Only last month, Britain passed legislation to broaden the scope of those who could be sanctioned in the event of a Russian invasion, to allow tough penalties on those close to Putin.
"Legal threats will have no impact on our ability to sanction oligarchs," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Reuters while on a visit to Lithuania. "We are absolutely determined to sanction Russian oligarchs. We have a further list we are working through."
Anita Clifford, a London-based lawyer who specialises in financial crime, said while there was a low threshold for the designation of sanctions, it still required a proper dossier of evidence or it could be challenged in court, and the government could be sued for large sums.
Ordinarily, the process would take at least a couple of months, she said.
($1 = 0.7498 pounds)
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Michael Holden, Andrew MacAskill, William James and David Milliken in London and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius
Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Alistair Bell
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov referenced Napoleon, Hitler, Hollywood's battle between "absolute evil and absolute good" and Ukraine's "neo-Nazi" regime as he made his latest attempt to justify his country's invasion.
Speaking during a virtual news conference in Moscow, Mr Lavrov insisted that Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine was an effort to "de-militarise and de-Nazify and to stop any more violence".
More than 2,000 civilians are estimated to have so far died in a week of Russian military aggression against Ukraine.
But Mr Lavrov contended that the Russian army had a "very strict order to use weapons only against military infrastructure".
And he defended Moscow's launching of its war machine against its neighbour as a means of allowing Ukrainians "to make their own choices".
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:39
Large explosions seen over Kyiv
Lavrov compares US to 'Napoleon and Hitler'
"Napoleon and Hitler, they had the objective to have the whole of Europe under their control," the 71-year-old said, according to a translator, as he continued the Kremlin's attacks on NATO.
"Now Americans have got Europe under their control. And we see the situation has really demonstrated what role the EU is playing in the context of the global situation.
"They are just fulfilling a role. So we see, like in Hollywood, there is absolute evil and absolute good and this is unfortunate."
Mr Lavrov claimed "the hysteria" would end and "our partners will settle down, calm down after a while" as he predicted Russia would "sit down to negotiate".
But he added this must be "only on one absolute condition that there has to be equal positions, equal parties negotiating".
Image:Russia's foreign minister was challenged about the death of Ukrainian schoolgirl Polina
Nuclear war 'not in the heads of Russians'
Russian President Vladimir Putin this week ordered his country's nuclear deterrent forces to be put on high alert and has previously threatened the West with "consequences greater than any you have faced in history" if other nations intervened in Ukraine.
Mr Lavrov, however, suggested that nuclear war was "not in the heads of the Russians" and blamed fears of an escalated conflict on "statements of the Western politicians".
He accused France's foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian of "trying to be like a peacock" and claimed UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had stated she was "prepared for the conflict between Russia and NATO".
In response to a US journalist's question, he added: "I'd like to point out the statements of your president, [Joe] Biden, when replying to a question whether there was an alternative to these sanctions from hell.
"He said the only alternative is World War Three. And everyone had the sense it can only be nuclear war."
Mr Lavrov warned Western leaders that if they "begin a real war against us then they need to think carefully, the people who harbour those plans - and they do harbour those plans".
Image:The lines of control in Ukraine at 6am on Thursday
Nazis 'flourishing' in Ukraine
The Russian foreign minister dismissed a characterisation of his own leader, Mr Putin, acting in isolation from other Russian politicians and Kremlin officials as "Western propaganda".
He also repeated Moscow's unsubstantiated but common reference to Ukraine being led by a "neo-Nazi regime".
Mr Lavrov spoke just two days after a Russian missile attack hit a Holocaust memorial in Kyiv, which commemorates the site of one of the largest mass killings of Jews by the Nazis in the Second World War.
And, when challenged about Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy's status as the first Jewish president of Ukraine, Mr Lavrov said: "It's very difficult for me to explain how Zelenskyy can be chairman in a society where Nazis are flourishing.
"They are marching openly, they are marching with torches."
The Russian foreign minister also described Ukrainian forces as "marauders" who "use civilians as human shields" and claimed "Nazi battalions" were among their number.
"Europe and the US are trying to close down any media from Russia who cover what is happening in Ukraine, how the special military operation is developing and how Ukrainian army - especially Nazi battalions - are behaving towards their civilians," Mr Lavrov added.
"They are literally robbing civilians as they retreat in Donbas, for example."
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:29
'Take them home': Zelenskyy to Russia
Foreign minister challenged over schoolgirl's death
Asked if he was preparing a defence for a potential war crimes trial over his and Mr Putin's actions in Ukraine, Mr Lavrov - who has been personally targeted by Western sanctions - referred to the term "collateral damage" being "invented by our Western partners" in Iraq and Libya.
Challenged about having the blood of Polina on his hands - a Ukrainian schoolgirl of nine or ten said to have been shot as Russian forces opened fire on her family's car - Mr Lavrov dismissed the line of questioning as "games" and "like a talk show".
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/OCTMN62RUVO4ROTRLB2LZMVDQE.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/JJILVBPRPFLMLCKVYYHIQJHCV4.jpg)
