Roskomnadzor blocks access to BAJ website in Russia

Roskom­nad­zor is most like­ly con­cerned about the pop­u­lar­i­ty of mate­ri­als on the BAJ web­site that explain how to cir­cum­vent cen­sor­ship and inter­net block­ing among Rus­sians.

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Access to the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists web­site baj.media has been restrict­ed in Rus­sia since May 7. As a reminder, on the eve of May 9 cel­e­bra­tions, author­i­ties in numer­ous Russ­ian provinces com­plete­ly shut down the inter­net “for secu­ri­ty rea­sons.”

The BAJ web­site is now on Roskom­nad­zor’s so-called block­list (Rus­si­a’s Fed­er­al Ser­vice for Super­vi­sion of Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy and Mass Media).

“Web­sites of inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian media are also pop­u­lar among Russ­ian audi­ences because we con­sis­tent­ly pub­lish mate­ri­als on our plat­forms explain­ing how to bypass cen­sor­ship and inter­net blocks. Such con­tent is in demand among both Belaru­sian and Russ­ian read­ers, and these pub­li­ca­tions are active­ly con­sumed on the web­site of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists. This is our tech­no­log­i­cal advan­tage,” the BAJ not­ed.

The Russ­ian author­i­ties, much like the Belaru­sian regime, have estab­lished a sys­tem of state polit­i­cal cen­sor­ship in their coun­try, “and when they see demand for mate­ri­als on how to cir­cum­vent such cen­sor­ship, they attempt to block them through extra­ju­di­cial mea­sures.”

“This is anoth­er vio­la­tion of the right to free­dom of expres­sion and the right to access infor­ma­tion. The block­ing of the BAJ web­site is anoth­er exam­ple of trans­bor­der repres­sion not only from Belarus but also from Rus­sia,” the orga­ni­za­tion added.

Notably, Roskom­nad­zor decid­ed to block access to the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists web­site on the same day the asso­ci­a­tion announced the final expul­sion of the Union of Jour­nal­ists of Rus­sia from the Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists.

The key argu­ment for expul­sion from the IFJ was the Russ­ian union’s cre­ation of its own struc­tures in tem­porar­i­ly occu­pied Ukrain­ian ter­ri­to­ries — in Donet­sk, Luhan­sk, Kher­son, and Zapor­izhzhia regions.