The Russian government is strong to say the least. With a democratic style of leadership it would seem that a right of freedom of speech would be respected in Russia. The government, the Kremlin, is assigned to protect its people's rights. However, then the government passes a law that tightens self-censorship to a point where they decide for the people what they can and can't read.
In layman's terms the law essentially "bars individuals and media outlets from reproducing materials published by [these] "undesirable organisations" (Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber). The definition of 'undesirable' being wholly decided by what the Prosecutor Generals Office decides is 'undesirable' toward the government. The Russian media is already vague because of the level of government control. 'Russian TV is dominated by channels that are either run directly by the state or owned by companies with close links to the Kremlin' (BBC 2015) and while this law is supposed to control anti-extremist views, the government uses it to promote its own. A fundamental issue with this law being passed is that it allows the Russian government to dictate what can be said about them essentially enabling them to get away with anything. Treason, genocide, torture; anything that could cause people to uproar against the government could be silenced under this law. So in theory, if the Russian government decides to exterminate a small town of people and you run a non-government media outlet and try to report this, the government can essentially censor it and cover it up with no consequences without justifying the removal of your article to the public.
According to an article by Mic.com there is a huge population crisis in Russia already as 'the population has dropped over the last 20 years from 148 million to 143 million' (Eileen Shim). Statistics such as this could be 'covered-up' with the new law passed and that is a worrying thing for any Russian citizen.
