Russia: closures and exile

State control, strict regulations and repression are the key features of the Russian media landscape – more than ever since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. All the country's large media outlets now belong either directly to the state or to state-affiliated oligarchs and corporations.

Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova holds an anti-war poster in March 2022. She was arrested and fined. After her release she went into exile.
Journalist Marina Ovsyannikova holds an anti-war poster in March 2022. She was arrested and fined. After her release she went into exile.
Freedom of the press has been under massive pressure in Russia for some time now. In 2019 a new law came into effect under which even media that are only partially financed from abroad (as well as their employees who publish content on political issues) can be classified as "foreign agents", which means they are subject to special, far stricter rules and controls. For the ambitious project VTimes, to name just one example, the resulting loss of advertising customers proved fatal, and it was closed in 2021.

With the start of the war against all Ukraine, strict censorship rules came into force: only official sources are allowed to report on the "special military operation", which may not be referred to as a "war". In addition, "spreading fake news" and "discrediting the armed forces" are now punishable offences, and dozens of media outlets and journalists have been labelled as "foreign agents".

Several major media outlets which refused to obey the new rules were closed down in the spring of 2022 – including online TV station Dozhd, the renowned newspaper Novaya Gazeta – whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 – and the radio station Echo of Moscow, which had provided a forum for opposition opinions over three decades.

Many of the journalists affected by these measures went into exile and the three media outlets mentioned above were relaunched abroad, Echo of Moscow in Berlin and Novaya Gazeta Europe and Dozhd in Riga. Dozhd, however, had its Latvian broadcasting licence revoked in December 2022 following a scandal over alleged support for the Russian army.

Print media play only a peripheral role in the Russian media landscape today – newsstands are disappearing by the day. In the print sector, the state pursued a strategy of transferring control of media outlets to Kremlin-affiliated businessmen who are dependent on the state power – as with RBK in 2016/17 and the once liberal and critical business daily Vedomosti in 2020.

Television is key in shaping public opinion. In effect, all TV stations support the Kremlin's position in their news and talk shows and have intensified their propaganda since the start of the war. Independent broadcasters are at best allowed to provide entertainment, but nothing more.

Even the Internet, which until the start of the war offered a certain degree of freedom, is now much more heavily regulated: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and certain foreign websites are officially blocked in Russia but can still be used via VPN servers. Social media users, bloggers and the media, however, must strictly adhere to the various censorship rules if they don't want to risk being blocked or even imprisoned.

Despite all the restrictions, independent opinions and free information are still available in Russia. However, they only reach those who actively seek them out on the Internet – whether via VPN connections or on Youtube and Telegram. Many of the Russian media professionals who emigrated in 2022 have created new channels on these two non-blocked platforms.

World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders): Rank 164 (2023)

Last updated: December 2022
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Media from Russia at euro|topics

Novaya Gazeta

Novaya Gazeta (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: Critical of the governmentCirculation: 107,781Visits: 1.000.000 - 5.000.000
Republic

Republic (Website)

Political orientation: LiberalVisits: 1.000.000 - 5.000.000
Kommersant

Kommersant (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: LiberalCirculation: 61,000Visits: 30.000.000 – 40.000.000
gazeta.ru

gazeta.ru (Website)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentVisits: 40.000.000 – 50.000.000
Moskovskij Komsomolets

Moskovskij Komsomolets (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentCirculation: 700,000Visits: 40.000.000 – 50.000.000
Wedomosti

Wedomosti (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentCirculation: 47000Visits: 5.000.000 – 10.000.000
Life

Life (Website)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentVisits: 10.000.000 – 20.000.000
Iswestija

Iswestija (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentCirculation: 83,500Visits: 20.000.000 – 30.000.000
Nezavisimaya Gazeta

Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentCirculation: 40,000Visits: 1.000.000 - 5.000.000
RBK

RBK (Website)

Political orientation: LiberalCirculation: 80,000Visits: 40.000.000 – 50.000.000
Vzglyad

Vzglyad (Website)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentVisits: 10.000.000 – 20.000.000
Radio Kommersant FM

Radio Kommersant FM (Website)

Political orientation: Liberal-conservativeVisits: 500.000 – 1.000.000
The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times (Website)

Political orientation: Liberal
Ria Nowosti

Ria Nowosti (Website)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentVisits: 20.000.000 – 30.000.000
Ekho Moskvy

Ekho Moskvy (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the governmentVisits: 500.000 – 1.000.000
newsru.com

newsru.com (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the governmentVisits: 1.000.000 - 5.000.000
Rossijskaja Gaseta

Rossijskaja Gaseta (Daily newspaper)

Political orientation: Pro-governmentCirculation: 135,000Visits: 30.000.000 – 40.000.000
Snob

Snob (Magazine)

Political orientation: Liberal-conservativeCirculation: 35,000Visits: 1.000.000 - 5.000.000
Forbes Russia

Forbes Russia (Website)

Political orientation: LiberalVisits: 10.000.000 – 20.000.000
Dozhd

Dozhd (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government
Jeshednewnyj shurnal

Jeshednewnyj shurnal (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government
grani.ru

grani.ru (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government
varlamov.ru

varlamov.ru (Blog)

Political orientation: Critical of the governmentVisits: 1.000.000 - 5.000.000
MBK media

MBK media (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government
VTimes

VTimes (Website)
Proekt

Proekt (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government

carnegie.ru (Website)

Political orientation: scientific

The Insider (Website)
The New Times

The New Times (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Vladislav Inozemtsev

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Novaya Gazeta Europe (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Konstantin Sonin

Leonid Volkov

Dmitri Travin

Political orientation: scientific

Ilya Krasilshchik

Sergei Medvedev

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Maxim Mironov

Ekaterina Schulmann

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Vasily Golovnin

Andrei Movchan

Political orientation: Liberal

Leonid Gozman

Echo

Echo (Website)

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Kirill Shulika

Political orientation: nationalistisch

Andrey Loshak

Nikolai Mitrochin

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Kirill Rogov

Meduza (Website)

Holod (Website)

iStories (Website)

Arkady Dubnov

Valery Solovei

Pavel Kanygin

Political orientation: Critical of the government

Boris Vishnevsky

Maxim Trudolyubov

Sergey Parkhomenko

Alexei Roschin

NSN (Website)

Stanislav Kucher

Ilya Yashin

Andrey Zubov

Abbas Gallyamov

Alexander Morozov

Anatoli Nesmiyan

Sergei Aslanyan

Alexander Minkin

Asya Kazantseva

Boris Zhuikov

Andrey Volna

Elia Kabanov

Ekaterina Kotrikadze

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