Moscow, 23 July 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Russia is increasingly restricting free internet access, with media regulator Roskomnadzor recently blocking access to 56,000 sites that refused to remove content deemed "extremist" by Moscow, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said on Tuesday.

At the same time, he defended a new controversial law that criminalizes the search for such content. Shadayev said that "ordinary users" would not face any problems.

The law in question was passed on Tuesday by a majority in the third and final reading by the parliament in Moscow, the State Duma. According to Russian media, more than 60 deputies voted against it.

The law provides for fines for the deliberate search for content on the internet classified as "extremist." Those who criticize the Kremlin - such as the Anti-Corruption Foundation of the late leading opposition figure Alexei Navalny - are primarily classified in this way.

The law sparked criticism even before it was passed. Media critical of the Kremlin wrote of the worst tightening of internet control in years. There was also talk of a "criminalization" of reading online. Before the third reading, there were protests and arrests in front of the State Duma.

Parliamentary Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin expressed a willingness to make corrections. He said it was necessary to monitor the implementation to ensure that innocent people are not affected, and that those who need to evaluate all information for their work are not affected.

Moscow has been expanding control and censorship on the internet, especially since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago.

Not only are sites blocked, but online services are sometimes so heavily throttled that they are practically unusable without a Virtual Private Network (VPN). However, VPNs are also increasingly being blocked. Those who advertise them face a fine under a newly passed amendment to the law.

MIA file photo