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Coffee in the morning, fear by afternoon: an Afghan journalist works undercover for an exiled media outlet, dreading every knock at the gate. After interviewing a woman with a disability about domestic violence, she halts publication — fearing surveillance cameras could expose her identity.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 challenged much of the common Western understanding of Russia. How can the world better understand Russia? What are the steps forward for Western policy? The Eurasia Center’s “Russia Tomorrow” series seeks to reevaluate conceptions of Russia today and better prepare for its future tomorrow.
As Russian authorities tighten the screw on popular messaging app Telegram and promote a state-backed “super app” that observers say could act as a surveillance tool, independent journalists and media outlets inside and outside Russia say it will become more difficult to report stories securely and stay connected to audiences.
For weeks in the spring of 2026, residents of Moscow experienced major disruption as mobile internet shutdowns which had earlier affected several Russian regions finally reached the capital. While the partial shutdowns were softened in the following weeks, internet users across Russia continued to experience serious difficulties accessing most websites…
The Kremlin is using legal means to go after its critics everywherem, even in Switzerland.
Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the number of NGOs, media outlets, and dissidents outside Russia who have come under the Kremlin’s scrutiny has been rising, and is expected to reach another record high this year.
Journalists in exile clearly view the persecution in Russia as a form of totalitarian repression directed against any opposition to the war or criticism of the Kremlin. The Censorship is being tightened further and free access to the internet is being restricted, aiming at intimidating people further ahead of the upcoming elections and to suppress any sign of social resistance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing Russia to seize the property and bank balances of citizens living abroad before any court ruling, the Moscow Times reported. The legislation turns a single formal charge into an immediate asset freeze in absentia against exiled Kremlin critics. It takes effect on 1 September 2026.
The future of Russian non-governmental media, such as for Meduza and Mediazona, is uncertain as Russian media-in-exile fights against receding revenue streams, the collapse of its audience, and the declining morale of its journalists. Mediazona has lost half of its subscribers since the start of the war. However, Mediazona’s audience increased during the 2023 attempted coup.
A number of journalists in Afghanistan say the process of reporting has become increasingly difficult. They say they live under constant fear of surveillance, arrest, and pressure by the Taliban. According to these journalists, working with exile media outlets is considered a crime by the Taliban, and journalists themselves are treated as criminals.
Several journalists working under Taliban rule have expressed concern over the intensifying crackdown on the media and the complete restriction of access to information. According to them, no media outlet under Taliban control can publish the existing realities and can only disseminate content that the Taliban permit.
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.
When a newsroom is forced into exile, relocation is often described as hope: physical safety, freedom of expression, open internet access, and the ability to publish without censorship. In practice, however, the main challenge quickly moves from physical security to survival and continuity.
Several exiled journalists from Afghanistan say that gaining access to information from inside the country has become one of their biggest challenges in reporting. They add that with the Taliban’s increasing restrictions on media and social media users, the process of obtaining information for exiled media outlets has become increasingly difficult.
Several journalists from Afghanistan who are now living in exile say that access to information from inside the country has become one of their biggest challenges in reporting the news. They add that with the Taliban’s growing restrictions on the media and users of social networks, access to information for exiled media outlets is becoming increasingly difficult.
The Taliban, by imposing a nationwide shutdown of internet and telecommunications services in Afghanistan, have driven the final nail into the coffin of individual freedoms, development, and people’s connection with the outside world. Opponents of the Taliban and other citizens of the country have said that this move has not only dragged Afghanistan into absolute isolation in the 21st century, but has also thrown the daily lives of millions into crisis.
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.]
Civic space in Afghanistan remains rated as ‘closed’. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the de facto authorities continue to commit human rights violations and crimes under international law against the Afghan people, especially women and girls, with absolute impunity. Civil society activists, journalists and others face severe restrictions, and activists have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for their criticism of the Taliban.