Russian police launch crime blackout on Putin’s orders
POLICE have been ordered not to publish any information about crimes during the World Cup as Vladimir Putin attempts to craft an image of Russia as a transgression-free zone.
With fears lingering of a terrorist attack such as the Underground bombing last year in St Petersburg, near where the England team are based, Moscow has deployed missile launchers and anti-drone jammers at stadiums. Regional police have been ordered to patrol host cities, leaving their towns complaining of shortages.
The media blackout underlines the push to make the national prestige project a success after the Russian president told police in February that the “image of the nation depends upon the thoroughness of your work”.
In a copy of a document seen by The Daily Telegraph, a colonel in Russia’s central federal district ordered subordinates to “cease publishing in the mass media information about investigative operations and preventative measures” from June 5 to July 25. He also said police should monitor social media to “catch negative information”.
Police in Russia’s 85 regions have not published news about catching criminals or solving crimes since June 6, the news site Mediazona said. The press service of the interior ministry in Krasnodar, where host city Sochi is located, told Mediazona it could give out only “positive” news. “They think they shouldn’t take the quarrel out of the hut and are hiding these things,” said Vladimir Vorontsov, an ex-officer who heads an independent police union.