One Russian region’s ban on sharing information about Ukrainian drone strikes is so vague that officials just brought charges against a local news outlet for paraphrasing the governor

Filed 1mo ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Sneaky

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: European Parliament · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Authorities in Russia's Vladimir region filed administrative charges against local outlet Zebra TV for publishing a summary of Governor Alexander Avdeev's own post about a Ukrainian drone strike, citing a March 2025 crisis-center ban on distributing such information. The outlet faces a fine of up to 200,000 rubles.

Zebra TV says the same official who filed the complaint, Yekaterina Gutsalenko, had previously told the outlet that quoting the governor's statements did not violate the ban. The outlet calls the underlying rule ambiguously worded and says similar charges are now being brought against other outlets and private citizens.

More than 30 Russian regions have imposed similar bans on publishing material about drone strike aftermaths since the invasion of Ukraine began, part of a broader pattern of media suppression, foreign-agent designations, and outlet closures.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

There is a special genius in a rule so elastic that the governor's own words become contraband the moment someone else repeats them, and a special cowardice in writing it that way on purpose. Vagueness is not a drafting error here; it is the entire product, because a law nobody can parse is a law everybody must guess at, and guessing quietly is exactly the behavior being purchased. Thirty-odd regions did not independently arrive at the same fog — they were handed it.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Sneaky · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0