MOSCOW: Russian regulators on Friday accused US tech giant Google and its video subsidiary YouTube of "terrorist" activities, the first step towards a possible access ban.
Russia has already blocked access to other global tech giants including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well as several independent media.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor said YouTube users "are sharing adverts with calls to shut down railway communications between Russia and Belarus".
Russia partly carried out its military operation against Ukraine last month from the north through the territory of its ally Belarus.
"The YouTube administration's activities are terrorist in nature and threaten the life and health of Russian citizens," Roskomnadzor said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
The watchdog denounced Google's "clearly anti-Russian position" and demanded the US company "stops broadcasting anti-Russian videos as soon as possible".
Russia earlier this month launched a criminal case against Meta -- which owns Facebook and Instagram -- accusing the company of allowing posts "calling for the murder" of Russians.
Russia is one of the most restrictive countries for press freedom and freedom of expression, but the situation has worsened in the past few weeks since the operation in Ukraine began on February 24.
Ukraine war disrupts GPS in Finland, Mediterranean
Meanwhile, GPS interferences have intensified in places as far away as Finland, the Mediterranean and Iraq since Russia invaded Ukraine, forcing aircraft to reroute or change destination, according to European aviation authorities.
Disruptions to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), which include GPS, are caused by the "jamming" or "spoofing" of satellite signals.
Since the war erupted on February 24, "jamming and/or possible spoofing has intensified in geographical areas surrounding the conflict zone and other areas," the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said in an online bulletin Thursday.
The EASA said the issue was observed in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the Baltics, eastern Finland, the Black Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and northern Iraq.
"The effects of GNSS jamming and/or possible spoofing were observed by aircraft in various phases of their flights, in certain cases leading to re-routing or even to change the destination due to the inability to perform a safe landing procedure," the agency said.
But the agency said it is unlikely that they will need to suspend flight operations.
EASA asked all air transit workers to report any GPS anomalies and warned that aircraft operators should be ready to use other navigation tools in case of satellite malfunctions.