Voices in the wilderness: Russia’s exiled media

Before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, there was a narrow but clearly defined space for Russia’s opposition media. The fearlessly anti-Kremlin Novaya Gazeta – whose editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year – was not only tolerated but funded by a regime-friendly oligarch at the behest of the deputy head of Putin’s presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko. Radio station Ekho Moskvy was owned by Gazprom media but regularly aired scathing criticisms of the regime. And the independent Dozhd TV (‘TV Rain’, motto: The Optimistic Channel) continued to broadcast online from increasingly cramped Moscow offices as advertisers and landlords were pressured to pull their support. Even as the Kremlin’s lavishly funded and ubiquitous propaganda machine filled the airwaves and internet with nationalistic, anti-western vitriol, Russians interested in alternative viewpoints could still freely access independent reporting from opposition journalists in Moscow. 

After the invasion, however, that space snapped shut. A law was passed in the Duma punishing the speaking of ‘fake news’ – defined as anything not confirmed in defence ministry statements – with up to 15 years in prison, instantly criminalising every opposition journalist in Russia.