While the Russian military seems to be failing to capture key cities, President Vladimir Putin is intensifying his two-decade crackdown on information. The Kremlin has shut down Russia's last three independent media outlets, barred major social media platforms, created new laws against journalists who defy its propaganda and insisted on calling the war a “special military operation". But Russia’s propaganda has also forced multiple journalists to dramatically quit.
Press freedom activists outside Russia accuse its state television of painting a severely distorted picture of the war in Ukraine in a bid to maintain support for what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation".
