One of Russia’s leading media outlets, the Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy, has been taken off the air amid a Russian crackdown on independent media covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ekho Moskvy Editor in Chief Aleksei Venediktov said on Telegram on March 1 that the radio station had been taken off the air and vowed to appeal the decision in court.

"The Editorial board of Ekho Moskvy absolutely disagrees with the demand of the Prosecutor-General's Office that led to the radio station being cut off the air," said Venediktov, one of Russia's best-known journalists.

Another popular independent Russian media outlet, the Dozhd television channel, also said on March 1 that its website had been blocked.

Earlier in the day, the Prosecutor-General's Office demanded that Russian authorities cut Ekho Moskvy from the air and block the website of Dozhd's online television station for distributing what it called information that "calls for extremist activities, violence, and premeditated false information about the Russian military personnel’s special operation" in Ukraine.

In a related move, on February 28 the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor blocked Current Time and the Crimea.Realities project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service for refusing to delete their reports about the war in Ukraine.

Roskomnadzor had warned media outlets across the country earlier that Russia's invasion of Ukraine cannot be called a war or an invasion, and should instead be referred to as a "special military operation in Ukraine."