Russia shuts down radio station Ekho Moskvy for critical coverage of war in Ukraine

The Russian government led by President Vladimir Putin has penalised Ekho Moskvy, a liberal radio station and one of Russia's leading media outlets, for its critical coverage of Moscow's attack on Ukraine. According to the head of the radio station, the organisation has been taken off air for its "critical coverage" related to the actions taken by Putin on his neighbouring country, Ukraine.

Taking to Telegram, Alexey Venediktov, the radio station's Editor-in-Chief and one of Russia's most prominent journalists, said that the action was taken after receiving multiple warnings from the government as the channel had been pushing out stories related to the war.

"The Ekho Moskvy board of directors has decided by a majority to close down the Ekho Moskvy radio channel and the website," he said.

According to a report by news agency TASS, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office earlier demanded that access to the Ekho Moskvy radio station and the Dozhd (or Rain) TV channel (designated in Russia as a foreign agent media outlet) be restricted because of their coverage of Russia's attack on Ukraine.

"Having considered the Russian Prosecutor General's Office's order to limit access to the Ekho Moskvy media outlet, the board of directors of the Ekho Moskvy closed joint-stock company made a decision on March 3 to close down the media outlet, including the Ekho Moskvy radio channel and the digital news outlet of the same name," the report said.

Government directs media houses to only publish information provided by official sources

It is worth mentioning that the Russian news agency highlighted that independent Press and media outlets which are considered critical for the government have been facing crackdowns for the last one year. The report said that the actions against these media publications or broadcasts have increased significantly after Putin announced a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine.

As per TASS, the government has specially directed the media houses not to use the word "invasion" in their news stories as it considered the intention of the government was never to occupy territory but to destroy Ukraine's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists. Russian media outlets have been instructed to only publish information provided by official sources, which describe the attack as a "military operation".

(With inputs from PTI)

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