Internet sites in Russia need to be censored according to a high official. Deputy Prosecutor General Ivan Sydoruk came strong with a comment reported by Kommersant saying:

“Changes need to be made to the current laws. As experience shows there is often room on the Internet for the spread of material of an extremist nature. Therefore it is necessary to draft an effective control system so that material published there corresponds to legal requirements.”

Although it has been reported that his statement was purely personal and that no censorship law is being prepared there are still questions to be asked. Russia has very strict anti-extremism laws that are aimed to combat a constant increase in neo-Nazi and racist activity. Different critics claim that these are used as a pretext to cut down Vladimir Putin’s opponents’ freedom of speech. This prevents the airing of political views and media is pretty much controlled by the authorities.

Until now, Internet activity was the only one that was not censored but this is about to change. In April for instance a special criminal investigation was started against a Russian blogger that promoted rage against the police claiming they should be burned on public squares as a ritual. This is officially the first case of its type in Russia and if the views of Ivan Sydoruk will be embraced there is an expectance more will follow.