Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits before the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Interim President of the Republic of Mali Assimi Goita at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

MOSCOW, July 11 (Reuters) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that wartime censorship in Russia is justified amid the conflict with Ukraine and the closure of opposition-minded media.

Russian authorities swiftly blocked Russian-language media outlets in February 2022 to quash dissenting voices as Russia invaded Ukraine, and they introduced laws threatening many years in prison for those “discrediting” the army.

Speaking to a Russian magazine called Expert, Peskov said that many media outlets have been closed, while some reporters have emigrated from the country in the past three years.

“But don’t forget the situation we are in. Now is the time of military censorship, unprecedented for our country. After all, the war is going on in the information space too,” Peskov is quoted as saying by the magazine.

Russian authorities also blocked Twitter, now X, and Meta Platforms’ (META.O) , opens new tab Facebook and Instagram followed by YouTube, the most popular foreign video platform in the country at the time.

“It would be wrong to turn a blind eye to the media that are deliberately engaged in discrediting Russia. Therefore, I believe that this regime (censorship) is justified now,” Peskov told the magazine.

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