Defying an official crackdown on the media, a leading Russian website briefly posted articles criticizing President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Lenta.ru published about a dozen articles on May 9 at the same time the Russian leader was using the commemoration of the 77th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 to justify Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The reports were headlined: „Putin Unleashed One of the Bloodiest Wars Of the 21st Century,” „Putin Has Turned Into a Miserable Dictator and Paranoiac,” „Russia’s Elite Sick Of Nepotism and Being Sycophants,” and „It’s Easy To Cover Holes In The Economy With War. Putin Must Go Away.”
The articles carried a disclaimer saying, „this material was not authorized by our leadership, and the presidential administration will kick the editors in the pants for its publication,” Radio Free Europe reported.
Mediazona website quoted Lenta.ru correspondent Yegor Polyakov as saying that he and his colleague, Aleksandra Miroshnikova, published the anti-Kremlin material.
„This was not done by some sort of an attack by a hacker, but a deliberate decision made by me and (Aleksandra)…. Our main motive was conscience,” Polyakov said, adding that „it is possible to say now that we are not working at Lenta.ru.
The articles were replaced with regular stories, but can be accessed in the website’s archives.
In an unrelated event, Russian satellite television menus were briefly altered on Monday to show Moscow viewers messages about the war including: „You have the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of dead children on your hands”, „The TV and the authorities are lying. No to war,” Reuters reported.
The messages were published shortly before Vladimir Putin delivered his speech.
The Russian president presided over a scaled-back, muted parade in Moscow’s Red Square. The military fly-past was canceled, ostensibly due to bad weather.
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