Because the battle in Ukraine grinds on, most Russians are unaware of what's actually occurring amid a brand new crackdown by President Vladimir Putin on the few remaining impartial media shops. On Friday morning, Russian lawmakers handed a legislation introducing jail phrases for anybody who publishes so-called pretend details about the nation's armed forces.
The legislation carries a sentence of as much as 15 years in jail for journalists or different individuals who unfold army data that the Kremlin deems to be unfaithful.
At the least two impartial media shops have been taken off the air this week after officers accused them of reporting false data, which suggests mainly something that's not being printed by official Russian sources.
The Kremlin is not going to permit the combating in Ukraine to be known as an invasion or battle, CBS Information' Mary Ilyushina studies from Moscow.
Russian state media tightly controls the message it broadcasts to thousands and thousands of Russians, repeating Putin's declare that this can be a defensive operation to guard Russia towards what he calls Ukrainian aggression.
State-run media has additionally by no means acknowledged the bombardment of Kyiv, Kharkiv or different cities exterior of the Donbas space.
There are a lot of Russians who see by means of this and are taking to the streets.
In line with a Russian rights group, greater than 8,000 protesters have been arrested throughout the nation.
Russians can nonetheless entry some impartial sources of stories by logging on and utilizing a digital non-public community, or VPN. That is what Ilyushina and different journalists do, however individuals who do not understand how to do this are being left with no complete image of what's going on in Ukraine.