Russia seeks to punish expats who criticise war on social media

Russian technology giant VK Co Ltd has been blocking independent media outlets and human rights groups. — AFP

Michael Nacke, a popular YouTube personality based in Lithuania, said his phone started blowing up with text messages one May evening asking if he was a “foreign agent”.

Friends and family had spotted his name in a news article claiming that Nacke, a Russian native, had been charged with disseminating false information about that country’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. The charge stemmed from a March 16 video about an alleged Russian attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, an incident the Kremlin denied.