On 7 December 2023, Svobodnye Novosti, a news website from the city of Saratov, said that a local military prosecutor’s office demanded the removal of an article listing names of soldiers from the Saratov region killed in Ukraine. In its letter, excerpts of which were published by Svobodnye Novosti, authorities claimed that this information had officially been designated as a state secret.
In a statement, Svobodnye Novosti said it had put the list together independently based on official Russian sources, including at the local level. After receiving the letter, the media’s team removed the list to avoid the website’s blocking, Svobodnye Novosti explained, adding that it would ask the military prosecutor’s office to explain what information is allowed to be published by media in the region, as Svobodnye Novosti had reportedly only used official Russian sources to put the list together.
Russian legislation adopted in March 2022 banned media reporting on the war in Ukraine not based on official Russian sources, introducing fines and prison sentences for offences such as “disseminating false information” or “discrediting the Russian army”, which can be handed to journalists who use other sources in their reporting.