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Russia has continued to see a precipitous decline in press freedom as the countryu2019s military campaign in Ukraine entered its second year, according to the annual press freedom rankingsu00a0publishedu00a0by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) onu00a0Wednesday.

Russia placed 164th out of the 180 countries surveyed in the ranking, a nine-point drop from last year amid what RSF called a u201cfinal purgeu201d of the media landscape enabled by the war in Ukraine.u00a0

u201cSystemic censorship and the forced exodus of independent Russian and foreign media outlets have freed up space for the dissemination of coordinated propaganda by pro-government media,u201d RSF said.

Russiau2019s propaganda apparatus was swiftly imposed on the Ukrainian territories seized by Russian forces in the invasion, RSF said, adding that in doing so Ukrainian media had been replaced, independent TV channels had been jammed and local journalists had been hunted down.

The Paris-based nonprofit highlighted the u201crecord timeu201d in which Russia managed to establish its media arsenal in occupied Ukraine while banning, blocking, or labeling domestic independent media as u201cforeign agents.u201d

RSF compiles its annual press freedom rankings based on how easy it is to disseminate information independently without the threat of violence.

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Source: The Moscow Times