Access to Facebook in Russia will be "partially restricted", authorities have announced.
It comes after the social media network limited the accounts of several Kremlin-backed media outlets over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russian state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor demanded that Facebook lift the restrictions it placed on state news agency RIA Novosti, state TV channel Zvezda, and pro-Kremlin news sites Lenta.Ru and Gazeta.Ru.
Restrictions on the accounts included marking their content as unreliable and imposing technical restrictions on search results to reduce the publications’ audiences on Facebook, the agency said.
Roskomnadzor has now restricted access to the social media platform after Facebook did not reinstate the accounts.
The watchdog has not yet clarified what the move means, but said a “partial restriction” of Facebook will take effect today (Friday, February 25).
In its official statement, Roskomnadzor cast its action as “measures to protect Russian media”.
It said Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s office found Facebook “complicit in violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as the rights and freedoms of Russian nationals”.
Meanwhile, Russia has been kicked out of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement that the inclusion of a Russian entry at contest in Turin in May would bring the contest into “disrepute”.
Eurovision had previously said it intended to allow Russia to compete but faced strong criticism from state broadcasters in countries including Iceland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands.
Uefa has also stripped St Petersburg of May’s Champions League final and handed it to Paris, while Formula One bosses cancelled the Russian Grand Prix.
On the second day of the Russian invasion, troops advanced on the Ukraine capital of Kyiv.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said just before 4am on Friday that “horrific rocket strikes” had hit Kyiv in an attack he compared to the city’s 1941 shelling by Nazi Germany.
Mr Zelensky said “subversive groups” were encroaching on Kyiv, as US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Kyiv “could well be under siege”.
US officials believe the action is an attempt by Russian president Mr Putin to dismantle Ukraine’s government and replace it with his own puppet regime.
