The Kremlin said in a statement on Friday, 4 March, that it has no plans to introduce martial law in Russia after thousands of Russians started to flee the country fearing that the government will close the borders as soon as this weekend amid the war in Ukraine, reported The Guardian.
In response to rumours of borders closing, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson said, “These are hoaxes.” He added,
“These are nothing but hoaxes published on social networks, which citizens send to one another. One should be very careful about information and not to fall victim to rumours and fakes.”
'Say No To War' Protests Across Russia
Peskov’s statements comes ahead of a Friday meeting of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament which makes decisions on security and major foreign policies.
There have been no confirmed reports that the government could impose martial law, which could include border closures, military censorship and efforts to mobilise the country of 140 million citizens.
Thousands of people took to streets across Russia to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying “no to war” and standing in solidarity with Ukrainians.
Over 700 people were detained by the Russian police at anti-war protests across the country. Following this, in an attempt to silence dissent, Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor said on Friday that it would partly restrict Facebook in response to its refusal to stop fact-checking and labelling Russian state media, Facebook confirmed.
(With inputs from The Guardian.)
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