NEW YORK (VINnews) — In response to growing internal and external opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Putin signed Friday a new “Fake News” law, stating that anyone spreading what the government decides is “fake” news about the country’s military faces a jail term of up to 15 years. Moreover a sliding scale of punishment is also included in the new legislation, including fines for anyone found to have discredited the Russian military or spoken out in favor of sanctions against the country.
The new law is the latest in a series of moves to suppress anti-war sentiments in the country which is reeling under international sanctions. Facebook and Twitter have recently been banned inside the country and the new law has seen many journalists scurrying to leave the country. A flurry of major Western news outlets — ranging from CNN to Bloomberg, the BBC and more — announced that they’ll suspend broadcasting and reporting from Russia.
The journalists are concerned that they could be targeted for serious punishment if they are perceived to be make disparaging statements about the Russian offensive. A CBS News spokesperson, for example, told Forbes journalist Andy Meek that : “CBS News is not currently broadcasting from Russia as we monitor the circumstances for our team on the ground given the new media laws passed today.”
Likewise, from a CNN spokesperson: “CNN will stop broadcasting in Russia while we continue to evaluate the situation and our next steps moving forward.”
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) also said Friday it would temporarily suspend reporting on the ground from inside Russia. “The CBC is very concerned about new legislation passed in Russia, which appears to criminalize independent reporting on the current situation in Ukraine and Russia,” the news organization said, in a statement posted online.
Moves like these have been described as contributing to a “digital iron curtain” that’s now descending around Russia, in the form of everything from the ban of all but approved information flows — to the divestment of Russia from international companies like Samsung, Google, Apple, and FedEx, among others, which have all said they’ll stop doing business there in recent days.
Russian media sources toeing the state line have claimed that Ukraine is pursuing a “genocide” of Russians in its borders, a claim forcefully denied by numerous Russian citizens of the beleaguered country who are fighting shoulder to shoulder with Ukrainian nationals against the invasion. Putin has also claimed that Ukraine’s leadership includes neo-Nazis, despite its president proudly asserting his Jewish heritage. The doublespeak regarding the incursion into Ukraine extends to the war itself which is never alluded to as an invasion in local media.
“Russia’s legislative assault on independent media outlets over allegations that they spread dangerous misinformation should be a reminder to people everywhere that no state should have the power to dictate to anyone what is false and unsuitable for public consideration,” former congressman Justin Amash said in a tweet posted Friday evening, as word of Russia’s new law continued to spread.