SILENCED

Election Campaign-Style Sites for Wagner Boss Blocked in Russia: Report

“To save Russia, be ready to support Prigozhin. The new leader of the new Russia.”

Web pages resembling those used in political campaigns calling for support for the head of Wagner Group have been added to a register of blocked sites in Russia, according to reports. A total of seven domains using either “p2024” or “pp2024” have been restricted by an “unspecified government agency” beginning on June 28, according to the Russian digital rights NGO Roskomsvoboda. The pages feature photographs of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and 2024, the year of the next presidential election, and feature slogans including: “You have to shoot accurately. You have to work honestly.” They also say that, in 2022, “Russia entered into a historic confrontation with Western civilization” and the country now “needs a leader who has proven by deed, not by world, that Russia can trust him with its security and well-being,” someone who is “a real brave Russian man.” “To save Russia, be ready to support Prigozhin,” one page continues. “The new leader of the new Russia.” An agreement allowed Prigozhin to go into exile in Belarus after he and his mercenaries launched a fleeting mutiny last month after accusing the Russian defense ministry of killing the group’s troops.