Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Insists Internet Is a Mass Media

It seems like Internet has really grown in influence in the Russian political life. It can be seen from the exsessive attention it gets from the Russian authorities lately.

Right after the blogger who had been critisizing the Russian militia was determined guilty of “inciting hatred and enmity” but was sentenced only to a suspended prison, the Minister of Internal Affairs, a soviet KGB successor, came out with an legislative initiative to qualify Intenet as a mass media, subject to the mass media law.

As the Russian national newspaper "Kommersant" reports, Nurgaliev had called all Russian security agencies "to be more insistent in their work with deputies pertaining to the question of legislative recognition of Internet as a mass information media with all legislative consequences for all holders of subversive sites".

Today's Russian media low has already proved its effectiveness for allowing the authorities to close quickly and quitely any media outlet accused in the "extremist activity". During eight years of Putin Presidency almost every independent traditional media outlet was put under the governmental controll - financially or administratively- or closed.

The message evoked neither a wide public response nor an adequate reaction of the small in number in Russia but highly appricieted in the Westrn countries Russian opposition. No surprize. A while ago there were some other initiatives of Russian officials pertaining to the Internet. Among them a mandatory registration off all Internet users, and an obligation for all Internet providers to block any web site found guilty in destribution of extremist materials at first prosecutor's call. And as the Russian history shows and everybody in Russia has well learnt, a resistance to a lesser evil often results in an evil much greater.