YouTube has blocked 16 Russian channels in Ukraine, including accounts belonging to pro-war bloggers, performers, and several foreign-language versions of the children’s cartoon Masha and the Bear.
The restrictions, announced by Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation on Friday, affect Russian war correspondent Alexander Sladkov and blogger Sergei Kolyasnikov, known as Zergulio, as well as singers Nadezhda Babkina, Yulia Savicheva and Victoria Daineko, and the band Uma2rman, according to The Kyiv Independent.
The latest blocks extend restrictions imposed in August on channels associated with Masha and the Bear, whose producers were accused by Kyiv of promoting pro-Russian narratives. The measures apply only in Ukraine, not worldwide.