This Russian journalist, who was handcuffed for her appearance in court, faced jail yesterday for exposing the horrors of the Mariupol siege.
Maria Ponomarenko, who works for RushNews, has been accused of spreading “fake news” about civilian deaths in the Ukrainian port city.
Ms Ponomarenko will remain in custody until her next court appearance tomorrow, according to messages shared via encrypted app Telegram.
Last month, Russia’s parliament passed a law stating that anyone accused of intentionally spreading “fake” news about the military operation could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Police in St. Pete have arrested journalist Maria Ponomarenko, pictured in handcuffs, for spreading “fake” news when she covered civilian deaths during the Mariupol siege. She faces up to 15 years in prison under a new law banning reporting in Russia
It came as Putin yesterday claimed the Kremlin’s spy agency foiled what he called a “Western” plan to assassinate prominent Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov.
He said the Federal Security Service stopped the alleged plan – and used the unconfirmed information to claim the West is now trying to target well-known names in the country.
However, six Russian men were later arrested and described as members of a “neo-Nazi” group acting on behalf of the Ukrainian security services.
“This morning the Federal Security Service stopped the activities of a terrorist group that planned to attack and kill a famous Russian TV journalist,” Putin said.
“They turned to terror – in preparation for the murder of our journalists.”
And under the disputed claim that the US was involved, he added: “We know the curators of Western intelligence agencies, primarily of course from the CIA, namely, who work with the security agencies of Ukraine.”
Solvyov, who has prime-time programs on Russian television, was sanctioned by the EU as a propagandist and had villas confiscated by Italian police.
And in an even more surprising target for Russia’s wrath, the chess website Chess.com has been banned by Russia’s media regulator.
In a statement, Chess.com, which has more than 50 million members worldwide, expressed its shock. However, it noted that since the invasion, sites including Facebook, Twitter and BBC News have been blocked.
“Yesterday, Chess.com was banned by the Russian government agency Roskomnadzor, which is responsible for censorship in Russia – a busy activity these days,” said a spokesman.
“According to Roskomnadzor, their goal is to block two websites: “About the invasion of Ukraine,” which outlines our policies and actions related to the war in Ukraine and answers frequently asked questions, and “Ukrainian chess players in wartime,” a Article interviewing Ukrainian chess players about their living conditions and views in the early days of the war.’
Chess.com has been banned by the Russian government agency Roskomnadzor, joining Facebook, Twitter and the BBC on a list of banned sites
Since these individual pages could not be blocked, the spokesman added, the regulator instead blocked the entire page from Russia. They urged Russians who wanted to play chess to go ahead if they could circumvent Russia’s internet laws.
“We reiterate our strongest condemnation of the Russian government’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will continue to publish relevant content.”
The statement added, “We will continue to welcome Chess.com members from Russia who are defying the government ban and playing on Chess.com.”
Chess.com previously banned Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin, who has publicly supported the invasion, from playing games on the site.
Writing online about Russia’s decision to ban Chess.com, he said, “Once again we are witnessing a situation where Western platforms are losing their Russian audiences due to their own Russiaphobia.”
Mr Karjakin was banned from chess competitions for six months last month by the International Chess Federation for his support of the Russian invasion.