Proposed Russian Web curbs are Soviet-style - union

By Chris Baldwin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Union of Journalists said on Tuesday a proposal to tighten state regulation of Web sites was a "hopeless" holdover from the Soviet era.

Vladimir Slutsker, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, this week introduced draft legislation to force domestic Web sites with more than 1,000 daily visitors to register as media outlets.

Critics say the Kremlin has already brought the biggest television stations and newspapers under its control and is now targeting the Internet, seen by politically active Russians as a last bastion of free speech.

Slutsker's proposal would mean Web sites would come under the same regulatory requirements as newspapers and TV.

The proposal would also prevent media outlets from citing any non-registered publications, which could prevent the media from using material from Internet blogs.

The new law was needed to prevent "irresponsible journalists from spreading rumours and hiding behind anonymous Web sites", Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted Slutsker as saying.

A popular Russian Web site published anonymous rumours about Slutsker and his wife, linking them to various crimes. A journalist has been charged with blackmailing Slutsker.

"The media is a mirror of society, but when some people in power feel they are insulted, they think it's necessary to change the mirror itself, rather than the image it reflects," Igor Yakovenko, general secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, told Reuters.