In Russia on Friday at the request of Roskomnadzor access to the CIA and FBI sites as well as the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice site were blocked. This is the site of a program in which the US pays rewards for information on threats to the country’s national security, the BBC’s Russian Service reports. The reason for blocking the resources is not reported, and the sites have been blocked since January 26.
Last May, Vasiliy Piskarev, head of the State Duma’s security committee, said that CIA publications in Russian are incitement to treason and “clear recruitment attempt”.
On May 2, the CIA posted a video in Russian on its YouTube channel advising how people can safely contact them to pass on information.
In turn The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service has opened an Internet reception desk on the Darknet (a segment of the Internet used primarily for illegal activities – note) in April 2021, where anyone who wants to share information about “threats to the security of the Russian Federation”.
In early January, the military prosecutor’s office of the Vladimir region also filed a lawsuit to block a UN news site in Russia, but the plaintiff dropped the case on Friday. The court closed the proceedings.
We remind you that Russia banned Facebook and Instagram last March, after a court found Meta guilty of “extremist activity”. Moscow had already suspended access to Facebook for restricting Russian media access to the platform.
Russia’s state communications regulator Roskomnadzor blocked access to Instagram also in March after Meta said it would allow social media users in Ukraine to post messages such as “Death to Russian invaders.”
Russia has blocked many Russian and foreign websites, accusing them of “discrediting” the Russian armed forces after adopted a relevant law.
