MOSCOW — Russia has restricted access to the sites of four independent media, including the local edition of the BBC, further tightening its control on information a week after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian-language editions of the BBC and Deutsche Welle will be limited in addition to the independent website Meduza and Radio Svoboda, the Russian branch of RFE-RL, according to the Russian media regulator.

Russia's parliament has passed a law making it an offense to spread "fake" information about the armed forces.

The Kremlin objects to the conflict being called a war, instead calling it a "special military operation".

On Friday morning, the homepages of the BBC and Deutsche Welle opened intermittently, but some articles about the war in Ukraine were inaccessible, AFP journalists in Moscow found. The Meduza and Svoboda homepages were completely inaccessible.

GlobalCheck, an internet censorship monitor, had already noted problems accessing the sites last night, as well as Facebook, which has been having problems for several days in Russia.

Deutsche Welle was banned in Russia last month and its reporters were forced to stop working, but the site continued to function.

The BBC said in a statement that it would continue its efforts to make BBC News available in Russia.

"Access to accurate, independent information is a fundamental human right which should not be denied to the people of Russia, millions of whom rely on BBC News every week. We will continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world," a spokesperson said.

Record numbers of people have read the BBC's Russian language news website since the invasion, seeking up-to-date information on the conflict.

On Thursday, one of Russia's last independent news outlets, TV Rain, stopped broadcasting after coming under pressure for its coverage of the invasion.

The channel ended its final broadcast by showing staff walking off set.

Russia is regularly described by watchdogs as one of the most restrictive countries in the world when it comes to press freedom, but the situation has worsened since the beginning of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian authorities have prohibited media from using information other than official statements about the invasion and banned the use of words like "war" and "invasion".

The Duma passed a bill on Friday introducing sentences of up to 15 years in prison for intentionally spreading “fake” information about military action.

Access to the BBC's Russian language services has been restricted in Russia.

Other news outlets, including Deutsche Welle, Meduza and Radio Liberty, have also had access to their services limited, Russia's state-owned news agency RIA says.

Russia's telecommunications regulator had accused the channel of "inciting extremism, abusing Russian citizens, causing mass disruption of public calm and safety, and encouraging protests".

"No to war," said Natalia Sindeyeva, one of the channel's founders, as employees walked out of the studio.

The channel then began playing footage of a performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

The ballet was used in Soviet-era broadcasts to mark the death of leaders, and was also played during the 1991 coup that contributed to the end of the Soviet Union.

The station's editor in chief, Tikhon Dzyadko, left Russia on Wednesday, saying it was due to concerns for his safety.

"The main problem is that we were covering Ukraine objectively, as professional journalists and covering from different sides. We had journalists going live and covering the situation," Ekaterina Kotrik, TV Rain presenter and former head of news, told the BBC.

She had to leave Russia due to the new law which could lead to prison terms of up to 15 years for people who intentionally spread what the Kremlin termed "fake" information about Russia's armed forces.

"Fifteen years in jail for just doing your job," Kotrik said. "It's the end of democracy in Russia. Any freedom is lost."

Radio station Echo of Moscow was taken off air on Tuesday. On Thursday it was shut entirely by its board of directors. It had featured interviews from Ukraine describing the invasion.

Ekaterina Schulman is a political scientist who was presenting a programme on the station when it was taken off air.

"People like me might find ourselves with nowhere to work. Very soon there won't be media outlets, or lecture halls or other platforms where we can talk to the public" she told the BBC.

Russia's state-controlled TV has depicted the war in a very different way to broadcasts seen around the rest of the world.

The crackdown on independent journalists comes as Russia's economy has been hit by sanctions. Its currency, the rouble, has plunged in value, hitting the savings of citizens. — Agencies