The Leninsky District Court in the city of Volodymyr, RF, summoned a Kazakh news site Arbat.Media to a hearing on February 17 for publishing "unreliable information about the war in Ukraine."
The chief editor of Arbat.media is Syrym Itkulov called the message of the Russian court "surreal" and added that "it goes without saying" that the representatives of the publication will not go to Russia - "This is a violation of international jurisdiction. How can a Russian district court subpoena foreign media?"
In the court notice, published on the Arbat.media website, it is said that the Vladimir Military Prosecutor's Office asked to ban the publication in Russia and accused Arbat.media of publishing "false" information about losses of the Russian army, shelling of residential buildings by Russian troops and the death of Ukrainians.
"One of the materials on the Arbat.media website misleads about the goals of military operations in Ukraine, contradicts the official Russian position and is "aimed at creating protest sentiments in the Russian Federation". - it is noted in the message of the Russian court. The editorial staff of Arbat.media informed that it is about the material "The Russian occupiers are defeated in the Kharkiv region, but do not want to admit it". Roskomnadzor asked Arbat.media to remove this article in November, but the publication refused to comply with the request.
Head International Foundation for the Protection of Freedom of Speech Adil Soz Karla Dzamankulova said she hoped the Kazakh government would take a "firm public stance" to "protect our information space from any attempts by other countries to dictate what and how our media should write about."
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday too posted a statement with a call to the international community to help stop the persecution of foreign mass media covering the conflict in Ukraine by the Russian authorities.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Roskomnadzor asked at least 11 Kazakh media outlets to remove content related to the war.
Arbat.Media journalist Armanzhan Baytasov is also on his YouTube channel replied to the threats of the Russian agency.
