"Freedom House" claims no freedom of expression in Armenia and Russia in 2013

The human rights organization "Freedom House" has compiled an annual index for media freedom in 2013. Armenia and Russia were included in the group of countries with no freedom of speech.

By the end of 2013, Armenia occupied the 134^th place in the Press Freedom Index. This was indicated in the study, which findings were published on the website of the "Freedom House".

In comparison with the previous year, the index of Armenia has deteriorated by one point from 61 to 62. This was reported by the Armenian service of the Radio "Liberty". In the ranking prepared by the "Freedom House", a country with such an index is included in a group of "not free" countries.

The presented ranking has given Russia the 176^th place between Ethiopia and Sudan. Human rights activists detect in Russia the problems of media self-censorship, enhancement of control over the Internet (blacklists of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, known as Roskomnadzor), and introduction of new restrictions on freedom of speech under the guise of protecting traditional values, the "Gazeta.ru" reports.