INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook and multiple media websites were partially inaccessible in Russia on Friday, as authorities crack down on critical voices and
fighting rages in Ukraine.AFP journalists in Moscow were not able to access Facebook, as well as the sites of media outlets Meduza, Deutsche
Welle, RFE-RL and the BBC's Russian-language service
The monitoring NGO GlobalCheck also said the sites were partially down.On its Telegram account, independent outlet Meduza said that its site
was no longer available to "some of its users" in Russia, but added that it had not received notification from the authorities about a
block.Since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last week, Russian authorities have stepped up pressure against independent media, though press
freedoms in the country were already rapidly waning.Earlier this week, Russia's Prosecutor General ordered the country's media watchdog to
"restrict access" to the liberal Ekho Moskvy radio station and the independent Dozhd TV channel.Those shutdowns were due to the outlets
refusing to toe the official line on the war in Ukraine.According to the Kremlin, the action in neighboring Ukraine is a military operation,
providing for up to 15 years in prison for any publication of "fake news" concerning the Russian Armed Forces will be examined in the Duma
during an extraordinary session on Friday.
