MOSCOW, September 24 (RAPSI) - Access to over 280 pirate websites has been restricted in Russia after almost 190 claims from copyright holders since the copyright protection law was passed, Alexander Zharov, head of the Federal Service for Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor), told the media on Thursday.

The anti-piracy law came into effect on August 1, 2013, and protects copyright holders from unlawful distribution of their movies online.

“Since August 1, 2013, Roskomnadzor has received 189 claims from copyright holders, including 143 after May 1, 2015. It should be noted that access is restricted to 282 websites violating copyright and associated rights,” Zharov explained.

The websites include online libraries flibusta.net and loverad.ws, which are visited by over 3.6 million people monthly; thepiratebay.se and thepiratebay.mn, mirrors of the world’s largest torrent tracker The Pirate Bay (30 million unique visits per month); ex.ua, a Ukrainian file exchange website with over 38 million visits; and livetv.sx, a live broadcast website, (27 million monthly) and some of its mirrors.

The other pirate websites blocked in Russia include wood-film.ru, as well as www.primewire.ag and its mirror www.primewire.tw, one of the world’s largest torrent trackers visited by over 53 million people every month. Access to PrimeWire is also blocked in the UK.