Russian authorities have blocked the main social media account for police watchdog OVD-Info over its coverage of the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine.
OVD-Info said its account on VK, the dominant Russian social media network also known as VKontakte, had been blocked on the orders of prosecutors.
The group, a nongovernmental organization whose compilations of arrests and detentions nationwide are widely followed inside Russia, said the Prosecutor-General's Office declared that its reports about casualties among Ukrainian civilians and Russian troops were "false."
The Prosecutor-General's Office had no immediate statement on the order.
The organization's main website was ordered blocked in December, after a court accused it of promoting terrorism and extremism.
An appeals court later threw out that ruling and ordered a new hearing, although the website remained blocked and OVD-Info had to set up a new site.
The group's other media channels including Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram still appeared to be working as of August 12.
Since the February 24 invasion, Russian authorities have clamped down on independent media and civil society groups in particular where coverage of the Ukraine war is concerned. The Kremlin has ordered that the invasion be called a "special military operation,” and has criminalized “discrediting the armed forces.”
According to Roskomsvoboda, a group that promotes uncensored online media, more than 5,000 websites have been fully blocked since the beginning of the invasion.
