Press release, 28.07.2016

The Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor refused to register the website of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO mosyabloko.ru as a mass media. Sergei Mitrokhin, Chair of Moscow YABLOKO, reported this on his Facebook page.

“Today Roskomnadzor has told us that the website was not registered since the original of the charter of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO was allegedly processed improperly. I consider that it was a deliberate refusal to register the website aimed at not allowing the website staff to cover the voting process during the elections on Semtember 18,” Sergei Mitrokhin noted.

Moscow YABLOKO leader emphasized that YABLOKO’s representative went to the department three times to make sure that the document were processed properly. The documents were brought to Roskomnadzor only after they assured us that everything was done in the right way.

“A month has passed and it turned out that it was done in a wrong way. It can mean only one thing: the Roskomnadzor chiefs decided not to register our website either by their own initiative or after consulting the “superior authorities,” Mitrokhin stressed.

He also added that Maxim Vinogradov, the director of the department for mass media registration, turned out to be on a vacation. His deputy Vadim Subbotin delivered a message that he was “too busy to discuss this issue” through his secretary.

Moscow YABLOKO is intended to appeal against the Roskomnadzor decision to the Central Electoral Commission.