In the United Arab Emirates, they blocked the site of the Russian news agency Sputnik.
The state regulator of the United Arab Emirates has blocked access to the site of the Russian news agency Sputnik.
The blockage occurred, tentatively, in the morning of May 12, 2019, which indirectly indicates the reason - it was in the morning that a number of Russian media, citing Iranian news agencies, published news about the alleged explosions in the port of Emirate of Fujairah. On the Sputnik website, the news about, allegedly, a missile attack on the port, explosions and fire on tankers was published at 11:32, later, at 14:07 - edited and supplemented.
As of 13:30 Moscow time, the site remains inaccessible at least in the networks of Etisalat, the largest of the two telecommunications operators in the UAE.
The Fujairah authorities immediately denied the fake news, and the emirate news media paid special attention to the fact that the information is mainly distributed in the Iranian and Russian media.
Sputnik is a news agency that includes websites, a mobile application, online broadcasting, a broadcasting service, and press centers, founded by the Russia Today international news agency. The head office of the agency is located in Moscow.
The site of TASS, Russia's leading state news agency, which also reported explosions with reference to Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen, is opening normally in the UAE. At noon on May 12, TASS, citing WAM, the UAE’s state news agency, published a refutation of the bombing information.
