War in Ukraine
The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Western news outlets curb reporting, broadcasts in Russia as Putin signs law cracking down on Ukraine coverage

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March 5, 2022 at 1:51 a.m. EST
Britain’s BBC announced Friday that it would suspend coverage from Russia after government censors there blocked access to the network and several other foreign news organizations’ websites for spreading what Moscow called “false information” about the invasion of Ukraine. (Frank Augstein/AP)
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Several major media organizations said Friday that they would limit activity in Russia, hours after President Vladimir Putin signed a measure into law criminalizing news coverage that accurately portrays the country’s bloody incursion into Ukraine as an “invasion.”

Bloomberg said it will “temporarily suspend our news gathering inside Russia,” according to a statement from Editor in Chief John Micklethwait. “The change to the criminal code, which seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association, makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country.”