![What economic crisis? Top Pakistan leaders own properties worth billions in Dubai, leaks reveal Top Pakistan leaders own properties worth billions in Dubai, leaks reveal](https://www.financialexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image_-2024-04-17T134642.290-74.jpg?w=300)
What economic crisis? Top Pakistan leaders own properties worth billions in Dubai, leaks reveal
On Thursday, Russian prosecutors declared the independent media outlet SOTA an “undesirable” organisation, in what amounts to a ban on its work in the country.
The designation could put anyone working for the outlet or sharing its content online at risk of punishment by authorities. Moscow has banned a host of Russian independent media as well as Western nonprofits.
SOTA is known for its media coverage of anti-Kremlin demonstrations and court trials of eminent opposition figures such as the late Alexei Navalny.
It was not instantly clear how many staff or freelancers SOTA has in Russia. However, the outlet regularly posts videos from inside courtrooms in Russia.
The prosecutor general’s office of Russia said in a notice that SOTA’s publications “are nothing but blatant attempts to destabilise the socio-political situation in Russia”.
“Such activities, obviously encouraged by so-called Western masterminds, aim to undermine the spiritual and moral foundations of Russian society,” prosecutors said.
SOTA rejected it has links to “Western handlers” in a statement published on its Telegram channel.
“We certainly oppose the war and the Putin regime and adhere to objective journalistic standards in our work”, it said.
The media company did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment on how it intends to protect its contributors.
While vowing to continue to work, SOTA also encouraged its readers in Russia to delete immediately any social media posts having links to its materials.
Being subscribed to the media company was not a crime, said SOTA and added, “Please stay tuned”.
(With inputs from Reuters)