Russia
2014
Crimean journalist forced into exile after interrogation
New York, September 9, 2014–Independent reporter and blogger Elizaveta Bogutskaya has fled Crimea after authorities in the peninsula raided her home on Monday, confiscated notebooks and other reporting equipment, and detained Bogutskaya for six hours over allegations of extremist activity, according to news reports.
Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin killed in Ukraine
New York, September 3, 2014–Russian authorities and news outlets reported today that Andrei Stenin, the 33-year-old Russian photojournalist for the state-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya, who went missing in Ukraine in early August, was killed in the country’s Donetsk region. “We condemn the killing of Andrei Stenin, which calls attention once again to the dangers…
Ukraine must reverse ban on Russian TV channels
New York, August 20, 2014–On Tuesday, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov ordered cable operators in the country to stop airing 14 Russian TV channels in an effort to curb Russia’s war propaganda, according to news reports. The Interior Ministry cited Russia’s decision to ban Ukrainian TV channels in Crimea as a justification for…
Journalist’s death in North Caucasus calls for independent investigation
On July 31, 26-year-old reporter, blogger, and civil activist Timur Kuashev disappeared in Nalchik, the regional capital of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkariya. When such news breaks in the volatile region–where journalists and human rights defenders are slaughtered regularly and with impunity–families prepare for the worst. The next day, a body resembling Kuashev’s turned…
No press freedom without Internet freedom
Four years ago, when CPJ launched its Internet Advocacy program, we were met with lots of encouragement, but also some skepticism. “Why do you need a program to defend the Internet?” one supporter asked. “You don’t have a special program to defend television, or radio, or newspapers.” But the Internet is different. Increasingly, when it…
Mission Journal: Attacks on journalists in Ukraine lead to information vacuum
“There are no [independent] Ukrainian journalists left in Donetsk,” said Aleksei Matsuka, chief editor of the regional news website Novosti Donbassa (News of Donbass). “They have fled the region since pro-Russia separatists started targeting and kidnapping reporters,” Matsuka told CPJ during our brief meeting in Kiev.
Ukrainian reporter held for reporting in Russia without work permit
Russian authorities arrested Yevgeny Agarkov, a reporter with the Ukrainian television station 1+1, on July 18, 2014, and accused him of working in Russia without a proper accreditation, according to news reports. Agarkov had traveled there to cover the controversial prosecution and trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, whom Russia accused of involvement in the…
Russia intensifies restrictions on blogs, social media
On August 1, Russia will significantly tighten its grip on blogging and social media conversations and will acquire expanded powers to block Internet services originating abroad. The new authorities, approved by Russia’s parliament in April, buttress existing regulations that have already been used to block several independent news sites, some of which reported on the…
Despite recent convictions, Anna Politkovskaya’s murder remains unsolved
Nearly eight years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in an elevator near her apartment, authorities appear to have made little progress identifying the mastermind behind her murder. Although five men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on June 9 for their roles in the slaying of the Novaya Gazeta journalist, her family…
CPJ welcomes sentences in Politkovskaya case, but mastermind still at large
New York, June 9, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists said it is encouraged by today’s progress in solving the 2006 slaying of prominent independent journalist Anna Politkovskaya, but noted that the mastermind still walks free. A Moscow court sentenced five defendants to lengthy prison sentences for carrying out the murder almost eight years ago.