A journalist from Siberia is detained in Russia.
On Friday, a Siberian news editor was detained after alleging that 11 riot police officers refused to join Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Authorities have increased up efforts to silence opponents since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to Ukraine on February 24.
The primary editor of a news website in Khakassia, Siberia, was arrested, according to the Investigative Committee, for spreading “deliberately incorrect material.”
If convicted, the journalist may face up to ten years in prison.
According to the Investigative Committee, his apartment was raided earlier this week.
The journalist’s identity has not been revealed by the Khakassia Investigative Committee, although it is thought to be Mikhail Afanasyev, operator of the local news website “Novyi Fokus.”
In early April, Afanasyev said that officials pressured 11 OMON riot police officers to travel to Ukraine.
The Afanasyev anecdote was widely circulated on social media, and Russia’s media regulator shut down The Moscow Times’ Russian-language website on Friday after it referenced it in an article.
Afanasyev, 45, has stated unequivocally that he will not leave Russia.
In early April, he told AFP, “I am not going to flee the country; I am stubborn and want to fight.”
In Khakassia, Afanasyev is a well-known editor. For years, his unbiased reporting has been the target of libel lawsuits.
For spreading false information about the Russian military, Russian authorities have sentenced offenders to up to 15 years in prison.
Independent media outlets have been shut down or silenced since the commencement of Russia’s armed incursion in Ukraine.
Russia should cease “this witchhunt,” according to Reporters Without Borders.
The Russian authorities are now targeting critical local media outlets with new legislation establishing war censorship, after dispersing the national independent press,” the watchdog stated.
Sergei Mikhailov, the head editor of Listok, a small opposition daily based in Altai, Siberia, was arrested earlier this week on charges of spreading “fake information” about Russian military in Ukraine.
