Russia / Europe & Central Asia

CPJ’s 2020 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free By Elana Beiser/CPJ Editorial Director Published October 28, 2020 Incremental progress toward reducing the murders of journalists worldwide is fragile and could be thwarted by legal appeals and lack of political leadership, CPJ found in its latest report on…

New York, October 26, 2020 – Russian federal authorities should investigate the circumstances of the death of journalist Irina Slavina, who died of self-immolation in early October after a campaign of legal harassment by authorities, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.   On October 2, 2020, Slavina, founder and chief editor of independent news website Koza.Press,…

New York, October 20, 2020 – Russian authorities should immediately and transparently investigate the kidnapping of journalist Sergey Plotnikov, and ensure that the press in Russia can work safely and freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On October 15, at about 8 p.m., seven unidentified masked men abducted Plotnikov on the street near…

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, some Crimean Tatars–the indigenous population of the Crimean peninsula–had to flee for the Kyiv-controlled part of Ukraine. But most have chosen to remain. As the Russian-appointed new authorities established blanket censorship, squeezing out independent media outlets, a new phenomenon emerged–civic journalism. Members of the Crimean Tatar community–who had not…

New York, August 31, 2020 – Russian authorities must conduct a full and thorough investigation into the vandalizing of journalist David Frenkel’s car, and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Between the night of August 26 and the early hours of August 27, unidentified attackers slashed all four tires…

New York, August 25, 2020 – Russian authorities must immediately release journalists Aleksandr Dorogov and Yan Katelevskiy, drop all charges against them, and ensure that members of the press can work freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In the early hours of July 29, police in the village of Mosrentgen, near…

Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, religion section editor of the independent newspaper Chernovik, has been in pre-trial detention in Makhachkala, in the Russian republic of Dagestan, since his June 14, 2019, arrest on terrorism charges, according to CPJ research. On March 27, 2020, authorities filed new charges against Gadzhiev, accusing him of participation in an extremist organization, as…

Twitter announced last week that it would start labeling some accounts run by media outlets and their top editors as “state-affiliated,” a descriptor intended to improve transparency about the source of information being shared on the platform.  Since disinformation became a flash point in the debate over content moderation on social media, distinguishing propaganda from…

Vladimir Sevrinovsky is a Moscow-based freelance journalist and documentary photographer who has covered social and cultural issues in Russia for independent news site Meduza, independent weekly Russkii Reporter, and Kavkaz.Realii, a regional service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, among others. Sevrinovsky’s most recent assignment was to report from Russia’s North Caucasus…

New York, July 27, 2020 – Authorities in the Russian republic of Dagestan should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the death threat against journalist Svetlana Anokhina and ensure she has adequate protection, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  On July 22, a man called Anokhina and threatened to kill her, the journalist…