Putin's New Russia

Independent Moscow Newspaper Novaya Gazeta has published pictures of Russian primary school children ....

Novaya Gazeta Published Pictures Of Children Arrested .....

...... who had been arrested by the police in Moscow. 

Their 'crimes'. were laying flowers at the Ukrainian embassy, and holding signs saying “No to war” .... in the pictures, they clearly still have their placards in their hands in the police station. A later update by the newspaper said the children had later been released, presumably without charge ... but in the new Russia, who knows? 

I have published the pictures with a link to their Twitter page, just in case the Russian authorities take down their Twitter account, as they are threatening to do to all independent media. They are demanding that they take down content about the war in the Ukraine or be blocked. The authorities have already taken independent radio station Ekho Moskvy off the air, and also blocked Russian access to the website of the independent internet TV channel Dozhd (TV Rain).

Dozhd has now announced that it will stop all operations indefinitely, after coming under this pressure over its coverage of the war in Ukraine .... it had been accused of "inciting extremism, abusing Russian citizens, causing mass disruption of public calm and safety, and encouraging protests," by Russia’s telecommunications regulator. Proposed new laws are set to create fines and jail terms of up to 15 years for anyone spreading "fake" information about the armed forces.

Natalia Sindeyeva, one of the channel's original founders, gave their last broadcast words as the employees walked out of the studio “No to war”. The channel then played out with footage of a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (which traditionally was shown in Soviet-era radio and television broadcasts to mark the death of leaders, and also in the 1991 attempted army coup that led to the collapse of the USSR).

The Dozhd Website Has Russian Censors Warning

All Russian media are banned from using words such as "war" or "invasion," when talking about the Ukraine, and must not include "unverified" (i.e. not from official state sources) information when talking about civilian casualties, and killed or injured troops. The prosecutor’s office is trying to block many of the few independent media's social media accounts as well.

Afternoon Naps In A Police Station?

 

What has that great country become in the last twenty years, if they are now waging illegal unprovoked wars with peaceful democratic neighbours, and arresting its own baby children?

Update 19/07/2022: TV Dozhd have obtained an EU broadcasting licence and resumed broadcasting from Latvia's capital Riga, streaming a news programme on its YouTube channel.They hope to open offices in Amsterdam, Paris and Tbilisi, Georgia. However its unlikely that anyone in Russia will see their programming other than by VPN on YouTube.