Russians face 15 years in prison for posting 'fake news' about Ukraine war under new law

Russians face 15 years in prison for posting ‘fake news’ about the Ukraine war under a new law. 

State TV in Russia, controlled by the Kremlin, has said the new measure could be discussed in its parliament, the Federal Assembly, during next week. 

The news comes as Russian officers detained over 1,000s of people during anti war protests in cities across the country and half of Russians have said they support the war against Ukraine. 

Both Russians and Ukrainians also protested the war in Trafalgar Square in London yesterday. 

Along with the ‘fake news’ measure, media reports will only be able to say the amount of Russian miliatary losses that have been ‘verified’ by Putin’s defence ministry, according to the Times. 

So far Russia has admitted some of its soldiers have been killed since they began their invasion, which Ukraine estimates totals 5,000 soldiers, but the Kremlin has not issued numbers so far. 

Vyacheslav Volodin, Russia’s parliamentary speaker, allied with the Russian government, supports the measure. 

Vyacheslav Volodin, Russia’s parliamentary speaker, and ally of the president, supports a new ‘fake news’ law targetting people talking about the war in Ukraine 

Vasily Piskarev, an MP with the ruling party, controlled by Putin, said: ‘These fakes demoralise society and undermine faith in the army and the security services.’

He also said Russia is ‘maintaining the peace’ in Ukraine and ‘disinformation’ is being promoted by opposition sites and on social media.   

Russia, where there is little to no indepedent free press, has also had Kremlin-controlled State TV pushing fake claims about the war with Ukraine. 

According to the BBC’s Francis Scarr, Olga Skabeyeva said: ‘In Kyiv, the witch hunt is well underway. Ukrainian nationalists are annihilating the locals, and they’re doing it extra-judicially

Russians and Ukrainians protesting the war in Trafalgar Square in London

Russian talk show host Olga Skabeyeva claimed yesterday Ukrainian nationalists are ‘annihilating locals’ in a ‘witch hunt’ after Putin’s ‘propagandist-in-chief’ threatened the West with nuclear destruction in another TV rant.

Known as the ‘iron doll of Putin TV’, Ms Skabeyeva also made the claim that a civil war has broken out in Ukraine and nationalists are killing their own neighbours.

According to the BBC’s Francis Scarr, she said: ‘In Kyiv, the witch hunt is well underway. Ukrainian nationalists are annihilating the locals, and they’re doing it extra-judicially.

‘The civil war in Ukraine is now more than real. People are starting to realise that they don’t need to fear Russian soldiers, but their own neighbours who’ve got hold of weapons.’

Dmitry Kiselev, one of the Kremlin’s most venomous TV propagandists, also accused German chancellor Olaf Scholz of ‘solidarity with the genocide of today’ that Kiselev, parroting Putin, claimed was being perpetrated against Russian-speakers in Ukraine.

The propaganda has led many Russians to be convinced that the conflict was provoked by the West.

There has been no confirmation whether the new fake news law would apply to foreign news agencies.