# Russia enacts wartime laws criminalising ‘fake news’ about the army and public discrediting of the operation

Date: 2022

## The fact

On 4 March 2022 the Federal Assembly adopted, and [Putin](/people/vladimir-putin) signed, statutes that criminalised spreading ‘fake news’ about the armed forces and public actions that ‘discredit’ them, with prison terms. Independent outlets were blocked the same week.

## Context

Roskomnadzor had already demanded the word ‘invasion’ not be used. Novaya Gazeta, Ekho Moskvy, and others suspended or were shut. Putin signed; the Duma and Federation Council passed; the prosecutor’s office and courts applied. He did not personally edit every website.

The invasion address of 24 February is a different date. Navalny’s 2021 imprisonment is a different date.

The president of the Russian Federation is commander-in-chief and can issue decrees, sign statutes the Federal Assembly has passed, and represent the state abroad. He does not write UN General Assembly resolutions, ICC warrants, or European Council conclusions.

## Evidence and sources

President of Russia carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [democratic-resilience](/drivers/democratic-resilience) and digital rights: a completed criminal statute that treats wartime reporting as a crime reduces public information and opposition speech.

## What is established and what is not

Established: signed March 2022 criminal statutes on army ‘fakes’ and ‘discrediting’, with contemporaneous blocking of independent outlets.

Not established: that every later blocked page was this statute, or a unique long-run literacy coefficient.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The Federal Assembly passed them. Roskomnadzor and courts applied them.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Russia enacts wartime laws criminalising ‘fake news’ about the army and public discrediting of the operation, not a later speech about Russia enacts wartime laws criminalising ‘fake news’ about the army and public discrediting of the operation.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Russia enacts wartime laws criminalising ‘fake news’ about the army and public discrediting of the operation on 2022-03-04 is not a licence to treat every later President of Russia communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Russia enacts wartime laws criminalising ‘fake news’ about the army and public discrediting of the operation into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He signed the statutes. The Federal Assembly passed them. Roskomnadzor and courts applied them. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Vladimir Putin: https://factrail.ai/people/vladimir-putin

## Drivers

- Democratic Resilience: https://factrail.ai/drivers/democratic-resilience
- Digital-Rights and Platform-Power Regulation: https://factrail.ai/drivers/tech-digital-rights-regulation

## Sources

- https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/04/putin-signs-law-introducing-jail-terms-for-fake-news-on-army-a76768
- https://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67908

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ru-war-censorship-2022