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Thomas Erdbrink’s documentary series Onze man bij de vijand about Russia primarily features Russians who support president Putin and the war in Ukraine, says journalist Pavel Kanygin, who fled his country and now lives in Amsterdam. That’s certainly not the whole story, he emphasizes in this op-ed.
Censorship, recruitment attempts by the FSB, propaganda in universities, forced emigration, anonymous bylines, and financial hardship are among the manage challenges that young Russian journalists face today. Vazhnye Istory spoke with several early-career journalists about the realities of working in the profession in Russia today.
Alexander Udikov’s Medium blog offers personal insights into life as a Russian journalist forced into exile after persecution for anti‑war articles. Since receiving political asylum in France in 2024, Udikov chronicles daily life, bureaucratic hurdles, creative workarounds and the ongoing challenge of staying true to independent journalism beyond Russia’s censorship.
Since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, almost every independent journalist has been exiled from Russia. For more than three years, journalists in exile have tried to continue their work from afar in a concerted effort to preserve the service of truth. Ten days ago, the Kremlin added Kostyuchenko to its list of foreign agents.
Ivan Kolpakov is the editor-in-chief at Meduza, the largest independent media outlet focusing on Russia. The organization has been in exile since Kolpakov co-founded the organization in 2014 with Galina Timchenko. DW Akademie spoke to the journalist and editor about what it is like to spend more than a decade reporting on his country from abroad.
A mission can mean many things: a diplomatic post, a military assignment, or spreading the gospel to convert nonbelievers. But journalist Ekaterina Fomina also calls her work a mission. The independent Russian reporter fled to Berlin shortly after Vladimir Putin escalated his war in February 2022. Since then, she has been reporting on Russia and Ukraine from exile.
Her investigations took her to the most dangerous places in Russia: A conversation with journalist Elena Kostyuchenko about responsibility, guilt, and her toxic relationship with her country.
Galina Timchenko and Ivan Kolpakov from the exile outlet Meduza describe their struggle to keep the independent media platform alive amid heavy internet blocks in Russia and growing financial pressure. Timchenko calls it a “war of attrition” waged by the Kremlin against free media.
Swissinfo asked Olga Sadovskaya, vice-chair of rights group The Crew Against TortureExternal link and vice-president of the World Organization Against TortureExternal link, to demonstrate how Russia’s digital Iron Curtain works with and without a VPN. [Spoiler: Swissinfo’s website doesn’t load in the country without one.]
After the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the country reshaped its global position. While the Russian press freedom is at an all-time low, there are still some islands of independent journalism. Among them are Irina (Ira) Malkova and Peter Mironenko.
On June 11, at Berlin’s Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien gallery, Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko sat down with sociologist Polina Aronson for a conversation about the emotional toll of today’s news cycle — on both readers and journalists. One of the questions raised during the Q&A was how censorship is reshaping the ways newsrooms connect with their audiences.
Inside Russia, journalists carry on working — risking arrest, surveillance, and the safety of their families, or navigating the shifting boundaries of state censorship. Meduza spoke with several of them about the constraints they face, the stories they can no longer tell, and how they view their colleagues in exile.
An AI translation tool, able to translate news content into a minority language, has proven successful for a media outlet in Greenland. This case could now inspire others to do the same. In 2023, the Danish tech startup MediaCatch developed an AI translation tool for Sermitsiaq, which is able to quickly translate news content into a minority language ignored by most big tech companies.
From April 26 to July 6, the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien gallery in Berlin hosts “No,” an exhibition curated by Meduza that brings together artists and journalists to explore life and work in exile amid Russia’s war on Ukraine and repression at home. The launch featured a panel on censorship with Ukrainian writer Zhenia Berezhna and Meduza editor-in-chief Ivan Kolpakov.
This article explores how Russian opposition media, forced into exile after the 2022 crackdown, continue reaching audiences through platforms like YouTube and VPNs. It highlights their growing dependence on viewer donations, the impact of lost international funding, and the ongoing struggle to sustain independent journalism under increasing pressure.
A Meduza journalist working undercover in Russia describes living a double life, hiding their identity from both friends and sources. Balancing safety, fear, and the burden of secrecy, they reflect on censorship, impostor syndrome, and the emotional toll of reporting anonymously in a society where many no longer want to hear the truth.
The death of Alexei Navalny shocked the world and dealt another blow to Russia’s opposition. Navalny had united and mobilized many, but now the movement is divided. In exile, his allies clash with Khodorkovsky’s. Ilja Yashin fights irrelevance abroad, while in Russia, Yekaterina Duntsova resists repression at the local level.
In the article, journalist Nikita Sologub shares how independent media like Mediazona continue reporting in Russia despite mounting repression. Founded to expose abuses in the Russian prison system, Mediazona has operated for over a decade, even as press freedom has deteriorated and the state increasingly targets dissenting voices.