Czech Radio withdrew its permanent correspondent Ivana Milenkovičová from Moscow over the weekend. The reason is the new law on misinformation, which Russia adopted on Friday. Czech Radio spokesman Jiří Hošna announced today.
“We evaluated the disinformation law as too great a risk,” Hošna said. The law, which criminalises up to 15 years in prison for misinformation and false news about the Russian military, for discrediting the armed forces and for calling for sanctions, was approved by the Russian parliament on Friday and signed by President Vladimir Putin.
According to spokeswoman Karolina Blinkova, the public correspondent of the Czech Television in Moscow remains so far. “Karel Rožánek remains in Russia for the time being and we are investigating the situation,” she said today.
Since last week, a number of media have withdrawn from Russia, such as the German stations ARD and ZDF, the Spanish news agency EFE, CNN, BBC, CBC and Bloomberg. The Russian public radio and television RAI will also withdraw the news from Russia, and the French radio company Radio France is considering an interruption. The American radio station Rádio Svobodná Evropa / Rádio Svoboda (RFE / RL) announced its suspension today.
Russian authorities have accused a number of foreign and independent domestic media of disseminating false information and blocked access to it. This included, for example, the Russian-language BBC News service, the Medusa information portal, or the Deutsche Welle and Voice of America stations. The social networks Facebook and Twitter are also blocked in the country.
Source: Czech Radio and CTK
Photo: Czech Radio
