The Wi-Fi at this year's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum grants access to banned opposition news sites

The wireless Internet available at this year's St. Petersburg International Economic Forum grants users access to websites that have been blocked by Russian police, according to a correspondent from the news agency Rosbalt, who says he was able to use the forum's Wi-Fi to access the banned opposition websites Grani.ru, Kasparov.ru, and Ezhednevnyi Zhurnal, and Russia's biggest torrent-tracker Rutracker.org. He says he was even able to load the Chechen separatist website Kavkaz-Center. (Another journalist present at the event in St. Petersburg confirmed to Meduza that he was able to access Kasparov.ru using the Wi-Fi, as well.)

The annual forum is taking place this year between June 16 and 18. President Vladimir Putin spoke earlier today, on June 17.

In the past 2.5 years, prosecutors have blocked roughly a thousand websites for spreading extremism, including the oppositionist news sources Grani.ru, Kasparov.ru, Ezhednevnyi Zhurnal, and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny's blogs on LiveJournal and Echo of Moscow.