The Russian government on Sunday banned users from across the country from accessing a Ukrainian online page that encourages the Russian military to surrender.
Since Oct. 4, an online page called Hochu Zhit has won more than 2,000 requests from members of the Russian military to leave their posts and voluntarily to Ukrainian forces, the Kyiv Independent reported.
Translated from Russian, Hochu Zhit means “I need to live. ” The Ukrainian state online page promises to adhere to the Geneva Conventions for the remedy of prisoners of war and provides Russian servicemen who spend 3 meals a day with legal assistance and medical care if they request to pass through the site or its affiliated hotline.
The hotline was first announced on Sept. 19 through Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, just two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of 300,000 army reservists, many of whom have enlisted, on the battlefield.
On Sunday, The Roskomsvoboda Project, a Russian anti-censorship non-governmental organization, reported that the site had been blocked under the authority of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office.
Russia’s prosecutor general, a position recently held by Putin’s appointee Igor Krasnov, heads the country’s judicial system, as does U. S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The allocation has been blocked twice. . . The first time through a ‘mask’ when access to all domain names and subdomains was restricted, the moment only on the entire website,” Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, according to Roskomsvoboda’s assignment, about the blocked site.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, which runs the Hochu Zhit website, and the government of the Russian Federation did not respond to Insider’s requests for comment.