Aleksandr Zharov

Dear President Vladimir Putin: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, is writing to express its concern about the deteriorating climate for press freedom in Crimea.

On August 1, Russia will significantly tighten its grip on blogging and social media conversations and will acquire expanded powers to block Internet services originating abroad. The new authorities, approved by Russia’s parliament in April, buttress existing regulations that have already been used to block several independent news sites, some of which reported on the…