The Russian State Duma voted 339-1 today to tighten media rules on slander and libel. Redefining the offences as ‘dissemination of deliberately false information damaging individual honour and dignity’, the new legislation would allow authorities to shut down media outlets for slander and libel – the same punishment as for promoting terrorism, extremism and racial hatred.

On Wednesday, the tabloid Moscowsky Korrespondent was closed down after reporting that Putin had divorced his wife and was planning to marry a 24-year-old champion gymnast, Alina Kabayeva – a claim that the president denied. Read more