Kazakh media refused to comply with the requirement of Roskomnadzor

The publication Ratel.kz reacted to the requirement of Roskomnadzor to remove material about the war in Ukraine: “The Russians will also tell us.”

Despite the threat of blocking in Russia, Kazakh journalists categorically refused to remove the material. For support, the publication turned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It all started with the fact that in July an article appeared on the website of the online publication under the heading “How long will the Russians support the Russian war in Ukraine?”. Its author presented data from sociological surveys and information about the alleged losses of the Russian army in Ukraine. The Federal Service of Russia for Supervision in the Sphere of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications reacted, quotes currenttime.tv:

“The owner of the information resource is obliged, within 24 hours from the date of receipt of the relevant notification from the hosting provider or the specified other person, to delete the information distributed in violation of the law.”

Roskomnadzor threatened that if the requirement is not met, the Internet resource will be blocked in Russia. Marat Asipov, director of Sapmar, which owns Ratel.kz, reacted to the claims with a smile, although the report threatened to lose the Russian readership. However, the head of the company decided that principles are more important than traffic:

“In Kazakhstan, we have experienced a lot of persecution and everything else. And then the Russians will tell us what to do and what not to do. scary”.

Journalists considered the actions of Roskomnadzor as interference in the internal affairs of the country, therefore contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kazakhstan. However, they did not consider the reason serious enough for proceedings. Aibek Smadiyarov, spokesman for the agency, said:

“In the same way, our relevant authorities block Russian websites on the territory of Kazakhstan if they refuse to remove anything. After all, Ratel is closed only on the territory of Russia, it will not open there. But in Kazakhstan it will function quietly. There is no politics here, just a technical question.

The Ministry of Information of Kazakhstan also remains silent, without making a single statement in connection with the situation that has arisen. Lawyers note that Roskomnadzor can block the Internet resource in Russia itself, and this organization has no authority in Kazakhstan. Lawyer of the Legal Media Center Gulmira Birzhanova notes:

“This is some kind of attempt, probably, to protect their citizens of the Russian Federation from receiving alternative information. Inside the country, they have already done everything, they recognized them as “foreign agents”, they blocked a bunch of their websites that write. They recognized information as prohibited if someone calls “war”, not “special operation”. Now they are trying to do this for those resources that are not located in the Russian Federation, but distribute information on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Birzhanova calls Roskomnadzor’s claims censorship and part of the information war that has unfolded within the country itself. And he adds that the Russian service once managed to achieve its goal. In April, the Kazakhstani edition of Newtimes.kz, at the request of Roskomnadzor, deleted material about the war in Ukraine, reports the words of a lawyer currenttime.tv.

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