Crimean-Russian realities

"Roskomnadzor" on May 12 blocked access to the project of the Ukrainian Radio Liberty service - the Crimea.real site. May 13, the site is available again

The site "Crimea. Realities" was blocked by Roskomnadzor on the initiative of the prosecutor's office of Crimea annexed by Russia on May 12, but the next day it became available again. There are no explanations on the part of the Russian authorities regarding the cancellation of the site blocking yet. The editor -in -chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Naddiyich called the blocking of the site "Crimea.real" by an aggressive action aimed at producing RFE/RL under the pretext of combating extremism and not allowing the Russian and Crimean audience to find out the truth about the annexation. "We condemn the site blocking as an attack on RFE/RL and to the fundamental right of the public to free access to information," Payich said .

On Thursday, the prosecutor of the Crimea, which was announced by Russia, Natalya Poklonskaya, announced the blocking of the site "Crimea. Roals" on Thursday. Based on the materials collected by the Prosecutor's Office of Crimea, Roskomnadzor conducts procedures for blocking access to this project, ” said Poklonskaya TASS.

The fact that the site can be blocked for supposedly extremist materials, Poklonskaya announced on April 19, when a criminal case was opened against local journalist Nikolai Semyon, who was working with the Ukrainian service, Radio Liberty. He is accused of Part 2 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation made using the media or electronic or information and telecommunication networks (including the Internet)."

Nikolai Semyon

According to law enforcement agencies, the articles of the journalist contained calls for violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. Now Nikolai Semyon is under the subscription about the lower right to leave. As for the site, Roskomnadzor decided that "its content testifies to its focus on the discrediting of the activities of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Crimea, incurred interethnic and interethnic enmity, and also carries out calls for extremist activities."

The site "Crimea. Realia" is a project of Ukrainian service Radio Liberty. He began work after the annexation of the peninsula in March 2014. About blocking the Russian -language site and about the working conditions of journalists in the annexed Crimea was told by the project manager Vladimir Pritula:

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- Nenad Payich called the site blocking the act of aggression and an outrageous pretext of extremism to introduce censorship against the radio. I absolutely agree with this statement. I will add that in the Crimea we have a very wide audience, we are actually the largest, most readable site for Crimeans, and I believe that this is directed primarily against the right of Crimeans to receive objective information. And, of course, we are read by a lot of Russian residents who want to know what is actually happening in Crimea, and this is also a strong blow to the Russians who would like to know this.

-There are three versions of the site "Crimea. Realities"-in Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. Now there is no access only to the Russian -language version of the site?

The site can be read in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar

- Yes, that's how. Since yesterday evening, the Russian-speaking site "Crimea. Realities" has been blocked, but it can be read in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. In Crimea, these sites are relatively popular, and I think that now the number of visits to these sites will increase. Moreover, for example, through the Ukrainian -speaking site "Crimea. Roals" you can listen to our radio "Crimea. Reals" on the Internet, which is also now blocked on the Internet, it is Russian -speaking, but we can be listened to on the Ukrainian site. In addition, outside Russia, our site is absolutely available, and Russian -speaking readers outside Russia can read it without any restrictions, in all countries, including the CIS countries.

- Roskomnadzor from the submission of the prosecutor's office of the Crimea blocked the website of the Crimea. Roals for the fact that it allegedly spreads extremist materials. What does your site talk about, how important is the information that you distribute?

Vladimir Prutula

- Our site is not only about Crimea, it is for Crimeans, so we give the widest information about what is happening in Crimea, and what is happening in Russia. We reprint materials from the Russian -language site of Radio Liberty, from sites of other services of Radio Liberty, translate materials from the Ukrainian language, which tells about the situation in Ukraine. We talk about what is happening in the world, including regarding Crimea. This is the most different information that is important to Crimeans. In addition, we have a lot of multimedia materials: photos and videos from Crimea, from other countries of the world. We have a lot of publications in the headings "Blogs" and "Opinions" - ordinary Crimeans or experts write there. By the way, a criminal case has been opened against one of our experts, Nikolai Semyon, under the pretext of his encroachment on the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. We hope that even in the conditions of the shame that is happening in the Crimea, we, with the help of our Russian colleagues, Russian and international human rights activists, lawyers, will manage to defend by Nikolai.

- In what conditions do journalists "Crimea. Reali" work in Crimea? Can you talk about details or are you actually underground?

Journalists work in extreme conditions

- Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the details, because it is very difficult to work, journalists work in extreme conditions. I will not reveal the secrets of how we manage to receive information from them, who and how works, I will only say that the number of ordinary people who give us information has grown. Simple Crimeans are increasingly sending photographs, videos, texts, we put some in the “blogs” section and use for news. And we hope that we will be able to maintain this connection. Unfortunately, in the summer of 2014, we had to evacuate the editorial office from the Crimea, we are outside the peninsula, but do not lose touch with the Crimea.

- Are there independent media outlets that can objectively talk about what is happening in the annexed territory remained in Crimea?

- I would say that the media, completely independent of the control of the authorities, is not in the Crimea. The authorities are trying to control social networks, where it was more or less possible to express their opinion, now this control has intensified, they are judging for posts on social networks, detain, and searched. Separate media remain, which can afford to criticize one of the officials, but in general they are all forced to work in the line of Russian propaganda. - said the head of the project "Crimea. Realities" Vladimir Prutula .