Russia / Europe & Central Asia

New York, August 30, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing Friday of Russian journalist Sergey Mikhaylov to eight years in prison on “fake news” charges and calls on Russian authorities to release him immediately.    “The sentencing of journalist Sergey Mikhaylov to eight years in prison on what Russian authorities label as ‘fake…

Berlin, August 29, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Russia’s recent launch of a spate of criminal investigations into foreign journalists reporting on the Ukrainian army’s advance into Russia’s Kursk region. Since the Ukrainian army started its incursion on August 6, Russian authorities have opened probes into seven foreign journalists accompanying Ukrainian forces to report on the conflict in the western town of…

New York, August 26, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans in an attack that also injured three journalists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. “The missile strike that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and injured three other journalists is a sad and sobering…

New York, August 21, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Belarusian journalist Ksenia Lutskina, who has served nearly half of an eight-year sentence, following a presidential pardon. Lutskina was among 30 political prisoners who were involved in “protest activities” and suffered from serious health issues and chronic conditions in jail who were pardoned by…

Berlin, August 19, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by Russian authorities to open a criminal case against Italian journalists Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini for alleged illegal border crossing from Ukraine into Russia. “Trying to put Italian journalists Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini on trial seems to be a desperate…

Russia’s months-long jailing of journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva —released on August 1 as part of a prisoner exchange — was one of the most blatant illustrations of Russia’s muzzling of the press in the wake of its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war has precipitated what a representative of the now-shuttered Russian Journalists’ and Media Workers’…

Berlin, August 7, 2024 — Russia’s plans to hamper the operations of YouTube – the country’s most popular social media channel and a major platform for exiled Russian media outlets  – is yet another form of censoring the news available to Russian audiences, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.   “This intentional throttling of YouTube is a blatant attempt to…

Berlin, August 6, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Tuesday’s sentencing of exiled journalist Dmitry Kolezev to 7 ½ years in prison in absentia on charges of spreading “fake” news about the Russian army and urges authorities to stop harassing Russian journalists abroad. “The lengthy prison sentence meted out to Dmitry Kolezev in absentia underscores…

New York, August 1, 2024–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) editor Alsu Kurmasheva as part of a prisoner exchange, and calls on Russia to release other jailed journalists and stop harassing those in exile. “Evan and Alsu have been apart from their families for far…

Berlin, July 25, 2024—Russian authorities have targeted more than a dozen exiled journalists over the last month as part of their escalating campaign of transnational repression of independent voices. Authorities sought the arrest of one exiled journalist and added two to their wanted list of suspects sought on criminal charges. More than 95,000 people are…