On February 14, 2024, russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that permits the confiscation of property for the offense of “spreading false information about the armed forces of russia”, an offence largely designed to silence domestic critics of its war in Ukraine, the UK Defense Intelligence reports.
Two days earlier the State Duma’s Committee on Foreign Interference introduced a bill seeking to expand the scope of russia’s undesirable organizations designation. This is likely aimed to further limit the operation of russian-language Western media organisations such as RFE/RL, Deutsche Well and the BBC russian service.
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These moves are part of a wider russian government trend that attempts to restrict the domestic information environment to limit domestic criticism and dissent. While this trend has been in evidence for many years, it has substantially accelerated after russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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