Access To Google News Blocked In Russia After Putin Accuses Wagner's Paramilitary Leaders Of Being The Mastermind Of The Insurgency

JAKARTA - Several internet service providers in Russia have cut off access to Google News after President Vladimir Putin accused Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, of being "the mastermind of an armed uprising."

According to NetBlocks internet monitors (via The New York Times), at least five Russian telecommunications companies, including Rostelecom, U-LAN, and Telplusl, are blocking domestic internet users from accessing the news aggregator. Google has not yet responded to a request for comment from Engadget.

On Friday evening 23 June, mercenaries from the Wagner group crossed the border from Ukraine to Rostov-on-Don, which is located 20 miles from the Azov Sea, and appears to have taken control of the city, which is Russia's southern military headquarters, without much resistance from regular soldiers.

On Saturday, June 24, BBC News reported Wagner troops were moving towards Moscow. Prigozhin has pledged to overthrow the Russian Ministry of Defense in response to the missile attacks it claims were carried out by regular soldiers against Wagner personnel in Ukraine. Apart from being the founder of the Wagner group, Prigozhin is also the financier and creator of the Internet Research Agency, the troll farm behind Russia's campaign to intervene in the 2016 US presidential election.

Putin, who described Prigozhin's uprising as a "lethal threat" to Russia's sovereignty, has promised to have harsh consequences for anyone joining the paramilitary group.

"Everyone who deliberately takes the path of betrayal, who prepares an armed uprising, chooses the path of extortion and terrorism methods - they will suffer unavoidable punishment," Putin said on Saturday, as reported by The Washington Post.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, many Western tech companies have left the country or seen their services blocked by telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor. Facebook and Twitter are some platforms that have been partially or completely blocked within the country since March last year.