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Russia: Exiled Opposition Voices Prepare for Blackout

  • The Moscow Times
  • Graham Keeley

Over the past decade, YouTube has become a vital platform for dissenting viewpoints as the Kremlin has clamped down on internet and media freedoms. For the exiled Russian opposition and independent media, losing it would mean losing a critical means of reaching millions inside Russia and countering the Kremlin’s propaganda.

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Exiled Russian Journalist Jailed 8.5 Years in Absentia

  • The Moscow Times

A Moscow court has sentenced exiled journalist Mikhail Zygar to eight-and-a-half years in prison in absentia for spreading so-called “fake” information about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine, the independent Mediazona news website reported Tuesday.

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Russian Exiles Report Canceled ID Cards

  • Deutsche Welle
  • Alexey Strelnikov, Sergey Dik

Opponents of Russia’s war against Ukraine are discovering that their government ID cards have been canceled since they fled Russia. Deutsche Welle spoke to those affected.

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‘We cannot become Ukrainian journalists’

  • LRT
  • Benas Gerdžiūnas

TV Rain’s editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko talks about stereotypes surrounding Russian journalists in exile and what marks them different from their colleagues in the Baltic states and Ukraine.

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Study: Afghan Exiled Media Since The Taliban Takeover

  • JX Fund

The Taliban takeover in 2021 ended a period of media flourishing and improving freedom of expression in Afghanistan. The collapse of the Afghan government and the resurgence of authoritarian rule have created an environment of fear and uncertainty within the media community. Independent and diverse non-state media are in danger; many journalists have fled their homeland in search of safety and freedom.

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Criminal Proceedings Initiated Against IStories’ Employees

  • IStories

Moscow’s Dorogomilovsky District Court arrested in absentia TV Rain journalist and former IStories employee Ekaterina Fomina and IStories’ editor-in-chief Roman Anin. The journalists are accused of spreading so-called “fakes” about the Russian army with the motive of political hatred.

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Digital Surveillance of Russian Civil Society

  • Reporter ohne Grenzen

After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022 and since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the legal basis for the Russian state’s digital surveillance of opposition and anti-Kremlin citizens has been expanded. This report presents a chronological list of legal restrictions on internet freedom due to expanded surveillance measures and describes the technical implementation of surveillance.

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Military Censorship in Russia

  • Reporter ohne Grenzen

The legal basis for combating independent media and media professionals in Russia emerged in the 2010s. In the 2020s, the state significantly expanded its options for repression. Media outlets and individuals were declared foreign agents and the number of cases against media professionals based on extremism paragraphs increased. This report provides an overview of the latest developments.

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No Protection in Exile

  • Reporter ohne Grenzen

According to a survey of Russian media professionals in exile, most of them do not live in the EU but in other countries (Georgia, Armenia, Central Asia, Serbia, etc.) despite the high risks due to a lack of legal options and insufficient financial resources. On behalf of RSF, the Russian human rights organization Mass Media Defence Center has prepared an analysis of the situation of independent journalists from Russia in exile.

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How Dev.by Stays Afloat as an Independent Publisher

  • The Fix
  • Tatsiana Ashurkevich

One of the Belarusian media outlets that has survived in exile is Dev.by, a publisher dedicated to the IT industry in Belarus and the world, producing news, interviews, reports, and analytics. The organisation operates in spite of constant threats and lack of funding. Dev.by’s CEO and founder Artiom Kontsevoi shared with The Fix how they manage to operate in such unstable conditions.

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Exiled Journalist Strives to Make His Community’s Voices Heard

  • The Moscow Times
  • Leyla Latypova

Valera Ilinov, the founder of the leading independent media outlet covering the republic of Komi, sees his work as inherently political and decolonial. Last month, the 24-year-old founder of Komi’s flagship independent news outlet Komi Daily was fined for violating Russia’s censorship laws twice in one week.

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Russian Decency

  • The New York Review
  • Zhenya Bruno

In the investigative journalist Elena Kostyuchenko’s new book about Russia, resistance is carried out through small, discreet acts.

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„We Will Continue to Work Whatever They Call Us“

  • The Barents Observer
  • Thomas Nilsen und Olesia Krivtsova

„I consider this label repressive. But I can say for sure that we will continue to work, whatever they call us,“ says Daria Poryadina, editor of the exile-Russian news outlet SOTA, that got declared an ‚undesirable organization‘ by Russia’s Prosecutor General on May 16.

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How Russian Media Makers in Exile Are Redefining Radio

  • The Fix
  • Veronica Snoj

Podcast radios are becoming a new media niche in the Russian media landscape challenged by war-reinforced oppression. The Fix talked with Maksim Kurnikov, the head of Ekho Online, which was the first in the Russian media landscape to launch such a service, and Polina Filippova, the producer of podcasts of Radio Sakharov, which has been operating for a year.

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