Chronicle
Chronicle of military censorship in Russia
Since February 24, media outlets have been blocked, freedom of speech has been restricted, and international platforms have been squeezed out of Russia. Below are the key decisions of the authorities that irrevocably changed the media landscape in Russia in just four months. We also included the dates of blocking of the Bound by Words participants in our chronicle.
Chronicle of military censorship in Russia
Chronicle
Since February 24, media outlets have been blocked, freedom of speech has been restricted, and international platforms have been squeezed out of Russia. Below are the key decisions of the authorities that irrevocably changed the media landscape in Russia in just four months. We also included the dates of blocking of the Bound by Words participants in our chronicle.
February 24
February 24
Media are obliged to publish only official information from Russian sources
February 26
February 26
First demands to remove publications about the war (Mediazona, Dozhd, Novaya Gazeta and others)
February 28
February 28
First blocking of independent media websites (Current Time TV, The New Times, Krym. Realii)

Gordon, Interfax-Ukraine and other Ukrainian media are banned in Russia
March 1
March 1
Dozhd and Ekho Moskvy are taken off the air
March 3
March 3
Ekho Moskvy announces its closure, Dozhd suspends its operations
March 4
March 4
Blocking of Meduza, BBC Russian Service, Deutsche Welle and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, blocking of independent media becomes massive

Amendments to the fake news law are adopted. Now the punishment involves up to 15 years in prison

Many media declare that they stop covering the war in Ukraine (The Bell and others) or correct and delete publications (Novaya Gazeta, Republic and others)

TV2 news agency from Tomsk announces its closure
Interview for Bound by Words

Facebook and Twitter are blocked in Russia
March 5
March 5
iStories and OCCRP are listed as "undesirable organizations"

The Network of City Portals by Shkulev Media Holding (E1.ru, NGS.ru, 74.ru, NN.ru, 63.ru and others) announces that it will not cover the war

Blocking of Kuban-based Protocol
Interview for Bound by Words
March 6
March 6
TikTok stops working in Russia
March 9
March 9
A register of individuals associated with "foreign agents" is created in Russia

Blocking of Perm-based Zvezda
Interview for Bound by Words
March 12
March 12
Blocking of Bumaga (Paperpaper.ru), Saint Petersburg
Interview for Bound by Words
March 14
March 14
Instagram is blocked in Russia
March 16
March 16
First criminal cases for spreading «fakes» are initiated (in particular, against Veronika Belotserkovskaya, a businesswoman and a publisher)
March 21
March 21
Meta (owns Facebook and Instagram) is recognized as an extremist organization

The first criminal case for spreading «fakes» is initiated against a journalist: Andrey Novashov faces charges for reposting an article by another journalist
March 23
March 23
News.Google is blocked in Russia
March 25
March 25
The law on «fakes» about the activities of the Russian government agencies abroad is signed
March 27
March 27
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, demands that the Russian media not publish the interview with Volodymyr Zelensky
March 28
March 28
Deutsche Welle labelled as a «foreign agent». From that point on, many editors and journalists will be added to the «foreign agent» list (Yury Dud, Elizaveta Osetinskaya and others)

Novaya Gazeta suspends publication
June 22
June 22
Ban of Meta for «extremist activity» takes effect
June 30
June 30
The State Duma adopts, in the third reading, amendments to the Mass Media Law: now it is possible to suspend the operations of a media outlet for several months without a trial, cancel its registration and block its website permanently