Rustem Khalilov/CPJ Guest Blogger
Rustem Khalilov is editor-in-chief of QirimInfo, a Kiev-based media outlet that collaborates with journalists from Kiev and Crimea to publish news and articles about Crimea.
![Newspapers are sold in Sevastopol in March 2014. Independent journalism has struggled after Crimea was illegally annexed. (AFP/Viktor Drachev)](https://cpj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Crimea-1-A.jpg?w=500&h=333&crop=1)
How patriotism with a Cold War tinge is damaging Crimea’s press
“You should move to Kiev,” I was trying to persuade a friend of mine to leave Crimea. I first met him at the time when cassettes were used in voice recorders, there were no e-mail addresses on business cards, and people preferred to make acquaintances in bars, not online. He asked me not to make…