Russia restricts access to Greenpeace website

Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has restricted access to the website of the international non-governmental non-profit organisation Greenpeace International in Russia.

Roskomnadzor did not specify the reasons for the restriction, TASS reports, citing the Roskomnadzor service for checking access restrictions to websites and pages.

Earlier, Russia's Justice Ministry added Greenpeace to its list of “undesirable” organisations, according to Anadolu.

“The Ministry of Justice of Russia has included the international non-governmental non-profit organisation Greenpeace International (Stichting Greenpeace Council) (Netherlands) in the list of foreign and international non-governmental organisations whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in a statement.

The move is in accordance with Article 3.1 of the federal law on measures against persons involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, and the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, and is based on the decision of the first deputy prosecutor general earlier this month, it added.

On May 19, Russia's Prosecutor General’s office labelled Greenpeace's activities in Russia as “undesirable" for posing "a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation."

The Russian branch of Greenpeace is forced to close, the environmental group said after the announcement.