The owner of Pskovskaya Guberniya (Pskov Province) — a local newspaper in Russia’s western city of Pskov — has been warned by Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor after mentioning the far-right Right Sector radical group without specifying that it is banned in Russia, the BBC Russian-language service reported Friday.
Under current legislation, if the publication receives a second warning within a year, it can be deprived of its license.
According to the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Denis Kamalyagin, who plans to appeal the Roskomnadzor warning, the Right Sector was mentioned in a quote and in a negative way.
Roskomnadzor’s actions are connected to the Justice Ministry’s inspection of Pskovskaya Guberniya — known for publishing controversial material — Kamalyagin believes.
The newspaper's founder — Kremlin critic and politician Lev Shlosberg — was severely beaten last year after an investigation by the Pskovskaya Guberniya concluded that Pskov paratroopers were killed in eastern Ukraine. He was also expelled from the regional legislature over the publication.
"Anyone who wants to live in a land of freedom and democracy has found themselves in opposition to the Russian state," Shlosberg addressed the deputies before they voted to oust him.
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