Summary
Here’s a roundup of Friday afternoon’s news in response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, as the BBC has stopped its news operation in Russia.
- The BBC will “temporarily suspend” the work of all its BBC News journalists and support staff in Russia. This is after new legislation has been passed by the Russian authorities, which imposes a jail term of up to 15 years for people who intentionally spread “fake” information about Russia’s armed forces.
- The Metropolitan police’s war crimes team is gathering evidence in relation to alleged war crimes in Ukraine to support the international criminal court (ICC) investigation, the force said.
- The shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been strongly condemned by both the foreign secretary Liz Truss and defence secretary Ben Wallace. Truss called it a “completely reckless act”.
- The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has asked government lawyers to “find literally any way” to crack down on “Slapps” – or strategic lawsuits against public participation – where the wealthy exploit lengthy and expensive legal procedures to silence journalists, critics and watchdogs.
- The Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine appeal has raised 55 million in its first day.The total includes “generous” donations from the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge, DEC said.
- Priti Patel has said Ukrainians fleeing into Poland were escaping “the most atrocious set of circumstances where they are being persecuted by President Putin”.
- Boris Johnson is concerned for the safety of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Downing Street has said. The prime minister has regularly spoken to the Ukrainian leader and has expressed his personal admiration of him.
- Former prime minister Gordon Brown criticised Russia for not making a statement regarding safety on the nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine it has taken control of, saying that is a “failure to respond to the pleas of the international community”.
That’s it from us for today. For the latest news on Ukraine, follow our dedicated live blog:
Updated
Here’s a bit more detail from Reuters about the legislation that has prompted the BBC to suspend its work in Russia:
Russia’s upper house of parliament approved a draft law on Friday that would impose a jail term of up to 15 years for people who intentionally spread “fake” information about Russia’s armed forces, the TASS news agency reported.
The bill will become law once President Vladimir Putin signs it, as he is widely expected to do. Moscow says it is fighting back in what it casts as an information war with the West over the conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile The Moscow Times reports that the document was adopted unanimously.
Examples of “fakes” about military operations that are punishable by up to 15 years in prison were provided to the lawmakers including the use of old photos of burned military equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that have been photoshopped to have markings of the Russian military.
The explanatory note to the bill also states that Ukrainian media is using footage of the devastation in the Donbas region from 2014-2015 and passing it off as crimes perpetrated by the Russian military in order to “create a global negative image of Russia as a ‘bloody aggressor’ and whip up panic in society.”
