Google’s search engine is to be banned in the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after pro-Russian authorities there accused the US tech giant of promoting “terrorism and violence against all Russians”.
Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said in a statement to the social news service Telegram: “The inhumane propaganda of Ukraine and the West has long since crossed all borders. There is a real persecution of Russians, the imposition of lies and disinformation.”
He accused Google’s search engine of being at the forefront of these efforts, saying that it “openly promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians and especially the people of Donbass by the orders of its curators from the US government.”
Announcing the decision to block Google, Pushilin added: “That’s what they do in any society with criminals: they become isolated from other people. If Google ends its criminal policies and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, nothing will stand in the way of its work.”
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The DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) previously banned Facebook and Instagram, which were also restricted in Russia after a Moscow court found Facebook owner Meta guilty of “extremist activities”.
Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states that recognize the self-proclaimed republics in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk as legitimate authorities. The DPR and the LPR were founded in 2014 and declared terrorist organizations by the Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv.
Google was contacted for a comment.