Moscow:
The Russian world wide web watchdog stated Wednesday social media accounts linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny really should be blocked, as Moscow turns up the heat on the opposition ahead of parliamentary polls.
Earlier this week Roskomnadzor blocked 49 web sites linked to President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal domestic critic like his key site navalny.com as properly as these of Navalny’s regional offices and his essential allies.
The move came soon after Navalny’s organisations have been in June banned as “extremist”, barring members and sponsors from operating in September’s parliamentary elections.
In a statement sent to AFP on Wednesday, Roskomnadzor stated that social media accounts of Navalny’s “extremist organisations” and their regional branches really should be also blocked.
The media watchdog claimed that the accounts contained “calls to carry out extremist activity and mass unrest” and that they supported Navalny’s outfits financially.
Earlier Wednesday Lyubov Sobol, a close Navalny associate, stated that Roskomnadzor was searching for to block her Twitter account.
“Not even a specific tweet — the whole account,” she stated on Twitter in English. “It is nothing but political censorship.”
On Tuesday, Leonid Volkov, a different close Navalny ally, told AFP that the media regulator also wanted to block the YouTube channels of Navalny, his campaign offices and numerous allies like himself.
YouTube has come to be one of the most visible platforms for Navalny to release his anti-corruption investigations, which are watched by millions of men and women.
AFP asked Google, which controls YouTube, for comment but did not get a reply.
In a message from prison on Tuesday, Navalny urged Russians to mobilise and download a “Smart Voting” application that also permits customers to study content from his now blocked key site.
Navalny’s “Smart Voting” method calls on Russians to back candidates greatest placed to defeat Kremlin-linked politicians in elections.
Russia’s parliamentary vote will be held from September 17 to September 19.
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