The chief editor of the television channel Dozhd TV says he has left Russia after the independent online channel's website was blocked by government authorities.
Tikhon Dzyadko said in a statement on the Podyom Telegram channel on March 2 that he and several of his colleagues had left the country indefinitely amid a harsh crackdown by authorities on independent media outlets.
"After the illegal blockage of Dozhd's site, Dozhd's accounts in several social networks, as well as threats addressed to some of our employees, it became obvious that the personal safety of some of us is now under threat," Dzyadko said.
Dzyadko's announcement came a day after Dozhd's website was blocked in Russia by order of the Prosecutor-General's Office. It also took the Ekho Moskvy radio station off the air for distributing what the authorities called information "calling for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Roskomnadzor has warned media across the country that Russia's actions in Ukraine cannot be called a "war" or an "invasion," and should instead be referred to as a "special military operation in Ukraine."
The media regulator on February 28 blocked Current Time and the Crimea.Realities project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service for refusing to delete their reports about the war in Ukraine.
