Zelensky signs decree extending ban on Russian social websites

Ukrainian President Zelensky signed a decree on May 14
extending the prohibition in Ukraine on leading Russian websites, including
social networking sites Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki, the Yandex search engine
and a leading email site mail.ru. The two-year prohibition was set to expire on
May 15, with the length of the extended prohibition not indicated. To enforce
the decree’s fulfillment, Zelensky appointed Oleksiy Danylov, the secretary of
the National Security and Defense Council, the body that drafted the order to
extend the sanctions.

Zenon Zawada: The
information war is just as important as the military front, so prohibiting such
websites is important. However, numerous influential television networks and
websites continue to function, which are based in Ukraine but promote
narratives sympathetic to the Putin regime. They include the 112 news network,
the NewsOne network,and the ZIK news network, all of which are tied to Viktor
Medvedchuk, widely regarded as Putin’s righthand man in Ukraine. So for as long
as the Putin regime is in place, we expect it will succeed in maintaining a
strong fifth column in Ukraine with such a media presence.