Roskomnadzor sends notices to Kazakhstan media demanding to remove content related to the war in Ukraine. Does Roskomnadzor have the right to send demands to the media other than Russian, and can these demands be called the attempt upon the digital sovereignty of Kazakhstan?
See no limits
In 2022, the Russian Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Roskomnadzor) began to demand from Kazakhstan-based media to remove materials regarding the war in Ukraine. According to Roskomnadzor, the data published contain unreliable information because it “contradicts official data of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation”. In case of refusal to remove the material, Roskomnadzor threatens to block the resource in the territory of Russia. At least nine Kazakhstan-based media received such notices since the beginning of last year.
The first one to get the “notice” from Roskomnadzor was the website Newtimes.kz. According to the media, on April 14, 2022, they received a letter saying that the information published on the website contained unreliable data. According to editor-in-chief Dmitry Kim, the article concerned the sanctions imposed on Russia, and it was published with reference to the BBC Russian Service. Newtimes.kz followed the instructions of Roskomnadzor because, according to Dmitry Kim, they did not want to deny free access to information to Russian readers.
The next one to receive claims from Roskomnadzor was Ratel.kz in August 2022. The Russian regulatory authority did not like the article “How long will Russian citizens support the war of Russia in Ukraine”, which told about the attitude of Russians toward the war. Editor-in-chief of Ratel.kz Marat Asipov said that they are not going to remove the material at the demand of the Russian regulatory authority and emphasised, “Yes, we are aware that some traffic comes from Russia. But a Kazakhstan-based reader is more important to us.”
Asipov took these notices as attempts to interfere with the interior affairs of Kazakhstan and called on the ministry of foreign affairs to take measures.
Roskomnadzor issues summons
In November 2022, Roskomnadzor demanded that the Kazakhstan-based Arbat.media should delete the material “Russian occupiers are defeated in Kharkiv region, yet do not want to admit it.” The author writes that the AFU in Kharkiv region recaptured several settlements, but Russian media and officials did not confirm their loss of control over the territories.
However, Roskomnadzor has gone even farther than notices with Arbat.media: the editorial office was summoned to the Russian court to admit that information published on the internet resource was banned for distribution in the territory of Russia. According to Roskomnadzor officers, the material “is misleading about the purposes of the special military operation.” In the lawsuit, Roskomnadzor noted that “the special operation is not planning to occupy Ukrainian territories.”
The trial was held in Vladimir region on February 17. Syrym Itkulov, editor-in-chief of Arbat.media, said that the results of the trial are unknown to him. But whatever the court’s decision is, the editorial office is not going to remove the material.
“Being the Kazakhstan-based news outlet, the organisation does not violate the law of Kazakhstan, and therefore there are no grounds for removing the material,” Arbat.media said.
Syrym Itkulov said that the reason of special attention to their media outlet from Roskomnadzor is in the big traffic from Russia. “45 per cent of readers of our website is from Russia,” Syrym said.
According to Itkulov, the claims of Roskomnadzor to Arbat.media have no legal grounds: “These demands from Russia are surreal, and do not fit into legal or moral frameworks.”
December demands
In December 2022, Roskomnadzor demanded that the outlet “Vlast” [Power] should remove several texts about the war in Ukraine. In particular, the material about the number of deceased in Mariupol and the news about the shelling of the Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa. The “Vlast” did not follow the instructions and emphasised that the outlet’s activities are not regulated by Russian laws.
“The editorial office is not going to remove the specified or any other news about the war in Ukraine and will continue to cover it regardless of the opinion of the Russian agency in charge of military censorship,” the editorial office said in its statement.
In the same month, the same demand – to remove the material – was received by news website Informburo.kz. Roskomnadzor insisted upon removal of one of daily reviews of military actions in Ukraine. The editorial office also said that it followed only the law of Kazakhstan.
According to Director General of Informburo.kz, Anastasia Bolovintseva, they received such demands from Roskomnadzor before the war in Ukraine. The first time they received the demand was in 2020 (there were five demands in total).
“Back then we applied to the Ministry of Information and Public Development of Kazakhstan (MIPD), and also to the prosecutor’s office, but didn’t receive any clear answer as to what we should do and how we should act,” Anastasia said.
Informburo.kz has reached a decision without the help of MIPD, which let them keep the material and maintain access to the resource in the Russian Federation.
“Our audience from Russia is the second largest after the one from Kazakhstan. So, not to lose it, we restrict access to specific materials, which are the matter of claims. This content is unavailable to our readers from Russia. So, we are not restricted in Russia in any way,” Bolovintseva said.
Director General of Informburo.kz finds it strange that Roskomnadzor sends notices directly to media outlets. According to Bolovintseva, such questions should be resolved at the level of state bodies.
“Even if such questions were resolved at the state level, I don’t think the MIPD would take sides with Roskomnadzor. Representatives of Roskomnadzor should not have influence on our independence,” Anastasia Bolovintseva said.
Need to defend
Lawyer of the Legal Media Centre Gulmira Birzhanova said that Roskomnadzor can block resources only in the territory of its country.
“No matter how it sounds, but once they have the legal option to block resources in their country, the MIPD cannot intervene,” the lawyer said.
Birzhanova emphasised that Roskomnadzor cannot do anything in the territory of Kazakhstan technically.
“If they had powers and technical capacity to have influence on the Kazakhstan-based part [of the internet], it could be called the attempt against the sovereignty of Kazakhstan-based media,” the lawyer said.
However, according to the expert, the MIPD should have publicly reacted on the situation and come with a kind of a checklist for journalists on what to do when receiving a letter from the Russian agency.
“The MIPD should explain that when such notices arrive, journalists may ignore them and no one would block them in the territory of Kazakhstan,” the speaker said.
President of the international foundation of protection of the freedom of speech “Adil Soz”, Karlygash Dzhamankulova, also expects a more coherent response from the state bodies. She wrote an open letter to the minister of foreign affairs of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tleuberdi, and minister of information, Darkhan Kydyrali, asking them to answer the questions: which international treaties allow Roskomnadzor to issue summons to Kazakhstan-based journalists? What measures will be taken by the ministry of foreign affairs and MIPD?
The head of the human rights organisation emphasised that censorship is prohibited in Kazakhstan.
“Censorship or validity of laws of other countries are not intended in the territory of our sovereign state. Protection of interests of our citizens and the state is all we ask from the governmental bodies,” said Karlygash Dzhamankulova about why “Adil Soz” thinks it is important for the government of Kazakhstan to take measures.
“The ideological sovereignty mentioned by President Tokayev will be impossible without independence of the media,” Dzhamankulova said.
The voice of the state
The first reaction of official Kazakhstan to the actions of Roskomnadzor followed only after the editorial office of Arbat.media was summoned to court. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan said that the Russian court was acting under the Code of Civil Procedure of Russia and its decisions were not valid in Kazakhstan. Moreover, the ministry of foreign affairs is sure that Arbat.media did not violate any laws of Kazakhstan.
CABAR.asia sent a request to MIDP asking to clarify the agency’s position because MIDP did not comment the actions of the Russian regulatory authority openly. In their response, representatives of MIDP, just like MFA, emphasised that “decisions of a foreign agency have no legal force and may not be applied in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.”
CABAR.asia sent a request to Roskomnadzor asking it to explain their position. But the Russian agency failed to answer the request.
At the time of writing of this material, all Kazakhstan-based media, which received claims from the Russian regulatory authority, remained accessible in the territory of Russia, according to the register of blocked resources of Roskomnadzor.
Main photo: Freepik
This publication was funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of IWPR and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.