Moscow. April 13. INTERFAX.RU – The Federal Penitentiary Service has never had an official page or group on VKontakte, Interfax was told in the department's press bureau.

So there they commented on the media information about the “blocking of the official group of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia” in this social network. “This group has nothing to do with the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia,” the press bureau said in a statement.

The FSIN does not know who this page belongs to. The service has repeatedly asked the VKontakte administration to remove this page, the department noted.

Meanwhile, the VKontakte press service reported that about ten years ago the page was verified at the request of the FSIN press service, and, according to the social network, those employees no longer work in the agency.

“Last fall, we received an appeal from the FSIN regarding the transfer of the group. But as a result, the employees did not provide a simple supporting document and stopped responding in dialogue with the support of VKontakte,” the press service notes.

“Yesterday, due to suspicious actions in the community, we decided to block the group for the duration of the proceedings. Now we have received a new appeal from the FSIN and are waiting for the necessary documents,” they added there.

On April 12, Mash reported that “an announcement about the collection of donations appeared on the verified page of the FSIN in VK.” The Telegram channel published a screenshot of an ad offering to subscribe to the page, support its author and receive “additional benefits” in return, including the opportunity to discuss “closed content”.