Russian President Vladimir Putin [Getty Images]
Russian President Vladimir Putin [Getty Images]

As Ukrainian drone strikes reach deeper into Russian territory, Moscow has moved to suppress the spread of footage and photographs documenting the damage, with authorities warning that posting such material online could result in treason charges.

Russian authorities have stepped up information controls since Ukraine expanded its drone campaign, arresting and punishing citizens who shared footage of the strikes, according to Yonhap and the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

After a long-range Ukrainian drone struck a logistics facility belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest e-commerce company, police released an apology video featuring a 19-year-old woman whose face was blurred. "I acknowledge my mistake and promise this will never happen again," she said in the clip. The woman faces a fine for violating regulations prohibiting filming at drone strike scenes.

Ukraine has expanded drone strikes deep into Russian territory in recent months, forcing the war's consequences onto urban middle-class Russians who had previously felt largely insulated from the conflict. Moscow and other cities have labeled the attacks "terrorism" and banned the publication of related photos and videos on online messaging platforms such as Telegram.

Restrictions on filming air raid scenes have been introduced across two-thirds of Russia's regions in recent months, according to the Russian human rights group Department One.

Russia's Federal Security Service has also indicted Telegram founder Pavel Durov on charges of supporting terrorism. Russian authorities argue that sharing footage of the damage helps Ukraine assess the effectiveness of its strikes and pinpoint the locations of Russian air defense systems.

Critics, however, say the Kremlin is suppressing information to prevent the public from learning the true extent of war damage. Abbas Gallyamov, a political analyst who once wrote speeches for Putin, said visuals carry far more weight with the public than words. "If there are no videos of things burning after being hit, it will be much easier to maintain the illusion that everything is going according to plan," he said. "And that is Putin's core message."

Authorities have also raised the stakes for those who post such footage. Officials and law enforcement have warned that videos of drone strikes revealing the locations of air defense systems could be treated as aiding the enemy, making perpetrators liable for treason charges carrying sentences of up to 20 years.

A Moscow resident said people are now afraid to post drone-related photos and videos out of fear of punishment by the authorities.


eyre@heraldcorp.com