It was in late March that Russia banned the service of social networking platforms like Facebook and Meta in the country for allegedly spreading 'Russophobia', as it invaded Ukraine.
And now, Russia has included Meta, the social networking platforms' parent firm in the list of terrorist groups, Interfax News Agency reported.
Even though Facebook and Instagram are not available in Russia since late March, several netizens were making use of their services using virtual private networks.
The decision to include Meta in the list of terror groups was taken by Russia's financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, and from now, the Facebook parent firm will be placed alongside foreign terrorist organizations like ISIS.
According to the Interfax report, Vesna, the Russian anti-war movement, was also put on the list of organizations involved in terrorism and extremism.
Meanwhile, Pavel Chikov, a human rights attorney has warned that the current criminal code of Russia will bring strict legal consequences even for showing the logos of Facebook and Instagram in the country.
As tensions escalate, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO recently warned Russia that any usage of nuclear weapons from Russia's end will meet grave consequences.
While talking with NBC, Stoltenberg said that any deliberate attack on NATO's critical infrastructure will be met with a firm and united response.
Stoltenberg also added that the nuclear rhetoric of Russia is dangerous and reckless.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to leaders of the Group of Seven countries to provide air support, as Russian missiles continue raining down in Ukraine.
"I am asking you to strengthen the overall effort to help financially with the creation of an air shield for Ukraine. Millions of people will be grateful to the Group of Seven for such assistance," said Zelenskyy.
