Russian court blocks access to Ukrainian "Myrotvorets" website
ST. PETERSBURG. Aug 1 (Interfax) - A court in St. Petersburg has blocked access to the Ukrainian "Myrotvorets" website which put out personal data of citizens, including journalists accredited to work in Donbas, without their permission.
"The prosecutors' lawsuit has been granted. Access to the website on Russian territory is blocked," a spokesperson for the Oktyabrsky district court told Interfax on Monday.
An inspection by St. Petersburg prosecutors earlier revealed that the website put out, in particular, a list of Russian citizens who, according to the site's administration, were taking part in the hostilities in Ukraine.
The list contains the Russians' dates of birth, cell phone numbers, photos, their alma mater and employer information. All these personal data were posted on the website without the holders' permission. This led the prosecutors to ask the court to restrict access to the information on the website.
According to open sources, Myrotvorets was created in 2014 at the proposal of Verkhovna Rada deputy Anton Herashchenko. The website positions itself as an online version of a center that studies crimes against foundations of Ukraine's national security.
Myrotvorets has a history of scandals over publication of citizens' personal data. In particular, in early May the site published files containing lists of over 4,000 journalists who were accredited for the areas not controlled by the central government. The list includes names of both Ukrainian and foreign journalists, their mobile numbers and how long they stayed in the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.
