Putin signs 'fake' news law that would jail journalists over war reports

Russian President solon signed into law Fri legislation that might penalize journalists with jail time for commercial enterprise news that contradicts officials' statements about Moscow' war in Ukraine.

underneath the new law, reporters confront to fifteen years in prison if they report what authorities reckon as false reports about the military. The legislation was lapsed each chambers of the Russian parliament. Tim Davie, the director-general for the BBC, same the law criminalizes freelance journalism and said the media outlet has suspended the work of its journalists and employees in Russia. "Our BBC News service in Russian can still operate from outside Russia," he same Thursday. "The safety of our employees is preponderant and that we aren't ready to reveal them to the chance of action merely for doing their jobs." He another that BBC journalists will continue to report in state and round the world on the war. Russian officers have denied media reports of difficulties by the military to advance its invasion of Ukraine amid significant fighting and nightly airstrikes. they need refused to characterize the conflict as a war or invasion, instead vocation it a "special military operation." Russia has additionally defendant the West of spreading falsehoods regarding the amount of its casualties on the parcel in a shot to show the Russian public against the war. Lawmakers provided samples of "fakes" about military operations that embrace previous photos of burned military instrumentation of the Ukrainian soldiers that are photoshopped to possess markings of the Russian military, The Russian capital Times reported. Since the start of the military incursion into Ukraine, many Russian media shops have suspended operations amid pressure from the Kremlin. in an exceedinglyddition, Russian capital has restricted social media – block Facebook and Twitter – as a part of a censorship crackdown. officers same the move came once the corporate restricted access to state-run media on its platform. In a Th statement, Nick Clegg, Facebook' president of worldwide affairs, said "soon lots of normal Russians can notice themselves interrupt from reliable information, empty their everyday ways in which of connecting with family and friends and suppressed from speaking out."