Russia’s federal censor blocks Kursk refugees’ online group after criticism of Putin and protest coordination
The Russian social network VKontakte has blocked a community run by refugees from the occupied Sudzha district of the Kursk region after users started posting criticism of Vladimir Putin and using the platform to coordinate protests. Journalists at the news outlet 7x7 were the first to report VKontakte’s decision to restrict the “Sudzha Free Announcements” community, which is now inaccessible inside Russia without a VPN.
Internet users in Russia now find a message from the social network stating that it’s been blocked at the request of Roskomnadzor, the federal government’s censor. Last month, refugees used the group to publicize a protest in central Kursk to pressure regional officials to provide better support to families forced from their homes this summer by Ukraine’s cross-border incursion. Several days after the demonstration, a local court fined the main organizer 20,000 rubles ($200) for staging an “illegal” public assembly. Putin later replaced the region’s governor after a complaint by state prosecutors that he failed to compensate refugees for lost housing.
Following Vladimir Putin’s end-of-year press conference last week, several community members criticized the president for characterizing Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region as mere “commotion” that caused some Russians to “get scared.”
