In a statement posted on the social messaging service Telegram, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said: “The inhumane propaganda of Ukraine and the West has long crossed all borders. There is real persecution of the Russians, enforcement of lies and disinformation.” He accused the Google search engine of being at the forefront of this effort, saying it “openly, at the behest of its curators from the US government, promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians, and especially the people of Donbas.” Announcing the decision to block Google, Pushilin added: “This is what they do in every society with criminals: they are isolated from other people. If Google stops pursuing its criminal policy and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, there will be no obstacles to its work.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST The DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) have previously banned Facebook and Instagram, which have also been restricted in Russia after a Moscow court found Facebook owner Meta guilty of “extremist activity”. Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states that recognize the self-proclaimed democracies in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk as legitimate authorities. The DPR and LPR were founded in 2014 and have been declared terrorist organizations by the Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv.
