Quote from: byteball on August 19, 2018, 08:00:27 AM

No free speech in Russia?
Just look at what people write here in Russian-language section.
The same zoological russophobia (spread by Russians who often don't speak any other language!) you can find in any social media, and nobody bans them, like in some other countries.

There are more than enough dissenting voices which RT is positioned to offset internationally.
And the main motiff of the dissent boils down to: Mr Putin owes us money - on the scale Mr Qaddafi used to pay everyone in Lybia, until Mr Qaddafi was killed by the beneficiaries, who used those money to buy up armaments.
Why don't we get oil revenues like in Saudi Arabia? Why do we have to work? and so on.

In Russia you can talk complete and utter bullshit in public, without any Political Correctness, or even basic decency limiting you - and a lot of people do talk. Admittedly some miniscule percent get jailed for that (unfortunately usually not the worst offenders, just some random small guys), but any freedom comes with a small chance of responsibility.

The issue is that in Russia there is no freedom of press. All the mass press is essentially owned by the government. Nobody says anything bad about Putin on the big channels. Of course you can say anything you want in Russia, as long as not many people hear you. Any channels or newspapers that try to go against the regime are eventually run out of business. Why do you think Telegram was "banned"? I'll give you a hint, not because of terrorists.