Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine blocked Google

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Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine blocked Google Pro-Russian separatists in a breakaway region in eastern Ukraine have blocked access to the Internet search engine Google because of "disinformation", their leader said today.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), accused Google in a message on Telegram of promoting "violence against all Russians" and stated that the blame lies with "leaders from the US government".

"If Google stops implementing its criminal policy and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, there will be no obstacles to its work," he said. He did not present any evidence to support his claims. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia banned Facebook and Instagram

Since the start of the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine have accused Western companies of spreading anti-Russian propaganda and taking a one-sided stance on the conflict.

Russia banned Facebook and Instagram in March after a court found Meta guilty of "extremist activities." Moscow has already restricted access to Facebook because Russian media have limited access to that platform. The DPR and the breakaway Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) followed suit and blocked Facebook and Instagram, supporting Russia's US-based social media policy.

In a statement posted to the social messaging service Telegram, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said: “The inhuman propaganda of Ukraine and the west has long crossed all boundaries.

There is a real persecution of Russians, the imposition of lies and disinformation”. He accused Google’s search engine of being at the forefront of this effort, saying it “openly, on the orders of its curators from the US government, promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians, and especially the population of Donbas”.

[A harvest combine collects wheat at a field about 25 kilometers from the front line in the Chuhuiv region of Kharkiv.]
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Read more Announcing the decision to block Google, Pushilin added: “This is what they do in any society with criminals: they are isolated from other people.

If Google stops pursuing its criminal policy and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, there will be no obstacles for its work”.