On 30 June 2023, Russian media reported that Roskomnadzor, Russia’s online censor and watchdog, had blocked access to news sites linked to the founder of private military company Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin. Russian authorities blocked the “Federal News Agency” (also known as RIA FAN), Politika Segodnya (“Politics Today”), Ekonomika Segodnya (“Economics Today”), Nevskiye Novosti (“Neva News”) as well as Narodnye Novosti (“People’s News”). All the blocked news outlets were part of the “Patriot” media group, which belonged to Prigozhin. Roskomnadzor did not officially report on the reasons of its decision. On the same day the outlets were blocked, Russian media reported that the media group had been dissolved by its founder.
On June 24, Prigozhin’s Wagner group attempted an unsuccessful armed rebellion against the Russian leadership. Wagner troops entered Russia from positions held on the frontline in Ukraine and took hold of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, before beginning what Prigozhin termed a “march of justice” on Moscow. On the evening of the same day, representatives of Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko announced that a deal had been brokered between Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin, bringing an end to the armed rebellion.
UPDATE: On 14 July 2023, pro-Kremlin activist Alexander Yonov said that media outlets controlled by Prigozhin had not been closed, but had only suspended activities. The media in question could be sold by the founder of Wagner in the future, Yonov told FT.