Behind the white bars of the defendant’s cage in Korolyov City Court, journalist Roman Ivanov stood handcuffed and expressionless in March, as the prosecutor presented evidence that he had spread false information by criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a widely circulated photograph by Getty Images.
Ivanov, then 51, said nothing but wore a loud message of defiance: Underneath his unbuttoned flannel shirt, a black T-shirt with a criminally liable slogan was visible to the judge and courtroom audience: “No, to war!” it read.
Russian officers had searched Ivanov’s Korolyov apartment on April 11, 2023. Ivanov, a journalist for RusNews and a Telegram blogger, was later charged with publishing unofficial military information, which is a crime under Russian law. He was placed in custody the next day.
He posted information about the Russian army and war crimes on the popular Russian social media site VKontakte and his popular Telegram channel.
Almost one year later, his day in court on March 6 did not go well, according to numerous accounts from reporters and press advocacy representatives who covered his trial. Charged with “spreading false information about the Russian army,” according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based advocacy group, Ivanov was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Ivanov’s case is one chapter of the larger story about President Vladimir Putin’s successful efforts to silence journalists and dismantle independent media in Russia.
“Officials at all levels used their authority to restrict the work of and to retaliate against journalists and bloggers who criticized them,” according to the U.S. Department of State’s 2023 Human Rights Report on Russia.
The Russian government, it said, restrains independent journalists by “accusing them of spreading ‘fake news’” or punishing them for “certain social media posts, as a tool to stifle dissent.”
Since January 2024, six support staff and 33 journalists have been detained and one journalist has been killed in Russia, according to Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF), an international non-profit organization.
The Russian government has blocked 18,500 news websites, according to IFEX, a network of non-governmental organizations. Russians who access illegal publications are subject to fines and imprisonment.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are also banned. Telegram and TikTok are still accessible but censored.
The increasing control over the media has created “a media landscape in which most citizens [only consume] government-approved narratives,” according to the U.S. State Department.
A broad crackdown
RusNews is an independent Russian news outlet on YouTube with 260,000 subscribers. In addition to Ivanov, two other RusNews correspondents have been sentenced to prison on charges of publishing “fake news” and extremism.
Maria Ponomarenkowas sentenced to six years in prison in 2023 for posting comments and videos about an attack at a theater in Mariupol, according to Amnesty International, an international human rights organization.
Igor Kuznetsovwas detained in 2021 on charges of creating mass disturbances in group chats on Telegram, according to the CPJ.
If a journalist is publicly critical of Russia or receives support from abroad, they can be fined or imprisoned. The Russian government labels these journalists as “foreign agents” and news outlets as “undesirable organizations,” according to the U.S. Department of State’s Human Rights report.
“The Kremlin wants to silence any critical voice or any independent voice, and that’s why they target journalists,” Jeanne Cavalier, of Reporters Without Borders, told Capital News Service in an interview.
An incremental slide since Putin’s 2000 election
Andrey Cherkasov, a journalist for the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s online Russian language show “24/7,” said the press was able to operate freely when Putin came to power in 2000. But over time, he said, independent media owners were forced to sell their assets to Putin’s political allies. By 2007 the media was under government control: first TV, then radio, printed press and finally social media, according to Cherkasov.
Media in Russia has been regulated since 2008 through Roskomnadzor, a federal agency that polices Russia’s internet. A little over ten years later, a new Sovereign Internet Law permitted Russian officials to monitor and restrict public access to online information.
TV Rain, the last independent Russian-language television channel was blocked in Russia following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It now operates in neighboring Latvia.
The Russian Supreme Court withdrew the license of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper’s website, the most well-known independent newspaper in Russia, in September 2022.
Maxim Osipov fled Russia in February 2022. He lives in Amsterdam and is a writer in residence at Leiden University. He edits an independent Russian literary magazine, the Fifth Wave. About a quarter of the magazine’s writers still live in Russia and are able to publish their work safely because his publication is about literature and not current events.
“Literature remained the most independent kind of art because you really do not need much to write what you want,” Osipov said. “All publishers are independent. They do not need state money.”
Journalists in exile often rely on international media organizations, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Reporters Without Borders and IFEX to publish their work and fund their escape.
“RSF has set up initiatives to help fleeing journalists and the free flow of information in Russia,” said Clayton Weimers, RSF’s USA executive director. It helps them find a new, safe home abroad and maintain news coverage and an audience.