Russia
2017
Local journalist shot in southern Russia
New York, December 21, 2017–Russian authorities should investigate today’s violent attack on independent journalist Vyacheslav Prudnikov, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Prudnikov, who contributes to the independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel from the town of Krasny Sulin in Russia’s southern Rostov region, was shot with a weapon…
Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression
For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers–Turkey, China, and Egypt–into improving the bleak climate for press freedom. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser
Russia designates nine U.S.-funded news outlets as foreign agents
New York, December 5, 2017–Russia’s Justice Ministry announced today that it has designated nine U.S. government-funded press outlets as “foreign agents,” under a newly expanded law, according to reports. The ministry named the outlets as the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and seven of its affiliates, and Voice of America. Under the law, outlets…
CPJ joins coalition to establish sports and human rights center
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a coalition of international sport organizations, civil society, and governments that are establishing an independent Centre for Sport and Human Rights. In a statement published today, the Mega-Sporting Events Platform for Human Rights, which CPJ is part of, outlined its commitment to establishing the center in 2018.
Ukraine arrests suspect in 2004 murder of Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov
Ukraine’s state intelligence agency announced on November 18 that it had detained a man wanted by Interpol for the high-profile murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov in Russia 13 years ago. Russia’s Interior Ministry on November 20 named the suspect as Magomed Dukuzov and said that Ukrainian authorities had apprehended him at its request, according…
Russia’s RT network says it complied with US order to register as foreign agent
New York, November 13, 2017–The Russian government-funded international news network RT, formerly Russia Today, said that it complied today with a U.S. Department of Justice order for it to register as a foreign agent. Ordering foreign outlets to register could set a troubling precedent, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Russian editor arrested, allegedly injured in custody; newspaper raided
New York, November 3, 2017–The editor-in-chief and owner of the independent, Kaliningrad-based weekly Novye Kolyosa, Igor Rudnikov, was allegedly beaten while in custody of Russia’s security service (FSB) and faces criminal prosecution, according to media reports and a staff member who spoke with CPJ on condition of anonymity for safety concerns. On the night of…
CPJ calls on Russian authorities to condemn stabbing attack on Ekho Moskvy journalist
New York, October 23, 2017–An unidentified assailant today broke into the Moscow office of Ekho Moskvy and stabbed Tatyana Felgengauer in the throat, the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Alexey Venediktov, wrote on Twitter. Felgengauer, the deputy editor-in-chief and an anchor at the independent radio station, was hospitalized, according to media reports. Security staff apprehended the assailant, who…
Russia and former Soviet states emboldened by declining press freedom in US, Europe
Receding media freedom in established European democracies and in the United States has emboldened authoritarian governments in Russia and other former Soviet countries to crack down on independent voices at home. I am sharing this information today with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe-known as the Helsinki Commission-and the House Freedom of…