Posted on 03/03/2022 9:32:11 PM PST by fluorescence
As President Vladimir V. Putin wages war against Ukraine, he is fighting a parallel battle on the home front, dismantling the last vestiges of a Russian free press.
On Thursday, the pillars of Russia’s independent broadcast media collapsed under pressure from the state. Echo of Moscow, the freewheeling radio station founded by Soviet dissidents in 1990 and that symbolized Russia’s new freedoms, was “liquidated” by its board. TV Rain, the youthful independent television station that calls itself “the optimistic channel” said it would suspend operations indefinitely.
And Dmitri A. Muratov, the journalist who shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said that his newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which survived the murders of six of its journalists, could be on the verge of shutting down as well.
“Everything that’s not propaganda is being eliminated,” Mr. Muratov said.
Precipitating the outlets’ demise were plans by the Russian Parliament to take up legislation on Friday that would make news considered “fakes” about Russia’s war in Ukraine punishable by yearslong prison terms. The Russian authorities have already made it clear that the very act of calling it a “war” — the Kremlin prefers the term “special military operation” — is considered disinformation.
“We’re going to punish those who spread panic using fakes by up to 15 years,” a senior lawmaker, Sholban Kara-ool, said on Thursday. During World War II, he said, such people “were shot on the spot.”
The crackdown on independent journalists —many of whom fled the country this week, fearing that even worse repressions were to come— added to the sense of crisis in Russia. The economy continued to reel from Western sanctions as airlines canceled more international flights and more companies suspended operations— including Ikea, the Swedish furniture retailer, a totem for Russia’s middle class and the employer of some 15,000 Russians.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Walter Duranty Times weighs in...
just heard on newsmax from a fella with connections to talks going on between russia, china, iran and some other terrorist nation and the US where biden is about to lift sanctions on iran plus lift individual sanctions on terrorists- real bad terrorists, and also he is thinking about buying oil from iran which will enrich iran massively, enabling them to see nuclear bomb even faster- All this while the Ukraine is fighting for it’s life while Russia bombs it to smithereens, and biden puts on useless ‘sanctions’ wink wink nod nod on Russia
and republicans in congress very likely know all this is going on and are looking the other way and keeping silent- They should be screaming for impeachment because biden and ilk are enriching our sworn enemies, and endangering our country- !
Is this what happened to RT too?
Boom!
Glad that would never happen here.
RUSSIAN COLLUSION!!!!
RUSSIAN COLLUSION!!!!
RUSSIAN COLLUSION!!!!
Only thing is, it wasn’t TRUMP!
IT WAS BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS!!!!
So now Russia is trying to be just like us!
“On Thursday, the pillars of Russia’s independent broadcast media collapsed under pressure from the state. Echo of Moscow, the freewheeling radio station founded by Soviet dissidents in 1990 and that symbolized Russia’s new freedoms”
Pretty half-ass dictator that Putin guy, if it takes him 30 years to silence opposition. Only took us a few months to do that regarding vaccines.
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