Thousands march in protest against Russia in Riga, Latvia on May 20. Gints Ivuskans / The Globe and Mail
Almost all independent Russian journalists had a breaking point this year. For the growing group of Russian-based writers of the online newspaper Meduza, this was a new law that threatened a 15-year prison sentence for anyone who published “false information” about the invasion of Russia. ‘Ukraine for Moscow.
According to the editors of a newspaper in the northwestern city of Pskov, the breaking point was a series of beatings by members with black masks of the OMON, a special unit of the Russian police, handcuffed by journalists and they confiscated their equipment.
Staff from both media have fled into exile. Most have moved to Riga, the capital of neighboring Latvia, where they keep in touch with Russian sources and publish their reports for their hearing across the border.
“There is no one left in Russia now,” said Denis Kamalyagin, editor-in-chief of the Pskov newspaper, known as the Pskovskaya Gubernia.
Denis Kamalyagin, editor-in-chief of the Pskov newspaper, in Riga on May 23. Gints Ivuskans / The Globe and Mail
“It’s terrible,” he told The Globe and Mail. “We all feel horrible, but we had to make a decision: go to jail, stop being a journalist, or stay in the profession and do what we had to do.”
Kamalyagin estimates that Russian authorities have blocked or shut down more than 70 media outlets since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. Unless they were explicitly ordered to suspend operations, they were financially compressed until they could not survive.
Since the start of the war, the Latvian government has issued visas to 206 Russian journalists and 167 of their relatives, according to Janis Bekeris, press secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These, he said, are a humanitarian exception, as Latvia does not issue visas to Russian nationals due to Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.
Police guard the Soviet war memorial. Gints Ivuskans / The Globe and Mail
Among the Russian media currently in Latvia is Novaya Gazeta, the famous independent newspaper whose editor, Dmitri Muratov, co-won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Forced to cease operations in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, he now publishes a European edition in Riga.
Many other Russian journalists have moved to the capitals of the former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Armenia. These cities, like Riga, are places where Russian is widely spoken and operating costs are cheaper than in Western Europe.
“It was very difficult for us to leave Russia, but Latvia has been very welcoming and well organized,” Kamalyagin said. “It simply came to our notice then. Now I feel at home here. “
Some of the Russian journalists already had ties abroad, which helped them adjust to life in exile. Mr. Kamalyagin had attended occasional seminars at an institute in Riga, while Meduza had a base in Riga for the past eight years.
“We founded our business in exile,” said Katerina Abramova, Meduza’s head of communications. “We were joking that our bodies are in Riga, but we wake up and go to sleep in Russia because we are on the Russian agenda all the time.”
Meduza was launched in 2014 after Russian journalist Galina Timchenko was fired from her job as editor-in-chief of the Russian news portal Lenta.ru.
The Wall Street Journal then reported that Ms Timchenko had been replaced by the editor of a pro-Kremlin website after publishing an article with a link to an interview with a Ukrainian nationalist leader accused by Moscow of extremism. She is now the executive director and editor of Meduza.
Its location in Riga put Medusa out of the reach of Russian authorities more than 840 kilometers east of Moscow.
“It was on purpose to be prepared for the worst case scenario,” Ms. Abramova.
“And the worst case scenario has happened,” he added, referring to Moscow’s crackdown on independent journalism.
In early March, when Russia passed a law imposing lengthy prison sentences for publishing “false information” about its war in Ukraine, Meduza still had many journalists and editors in Moscow. The new law was the last straw. Meduza moved two dozen employees out of Russia, their partners, families and pets.
For security reasons, Meduza will not disclose the size of its wording. But Mrs. Abramova said that over time the staff has had an average of several dozen people, including the computer department and the back office.
The Kremlin had been attacking and harassing the independent media long before the Ukrainian war. In 2020, the government declared Mr. Kamalyagin a foreign agent, a designation that imposed legal restrictions on his activities. The same designation was used against Medusa in April 2021, making her an outcast among Russian companies.
In a matter of days, Medusa lost all her advertising from Russia, which had been the mainstay of her income. “Business in Russia was afraid of being associated with anything political or undesirable,” Ms. Abramova.
In retrospect, he said, it appears the Kremlin had been preparing for its invasion of Ukraine by eliminating Russia’s independent media.
Jellyfish struggled to survive. He resigned from his workplace offices. Reduce expenses. And he launched a crowdfunding campaign to get the support of his audience. “Our readers literally saved us,” Ms. Abramova.
Western financial sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s assault on Ukraine further strained Medusa’s operations. With Visa and Mastercard, Paypal and the SWIFT network blocked for Russians, the 30,000 subscribers to the news site in Russia were unable to pay their monthly dues.
Once again, Medusa pivoted. She launched a campaign aimed at international and Western audiences, asking donors to “defend the Russians who want to support us but can no longer do so,” Ms. Abramova.
It’s hard to see what’s going on today, he said. “It’s a sad story and a lonely story. The worst thing is not being able to go home, the saddest thing is when you see your country killing people from another country: children, women, soldiers. “
It is likely that some Russian media in Latvia will obtain financial support from European donors and other international organizations, who have already met with several Russian publishers in Riga to discuss their business models and potential programs that could help them.
But the exiled Russian media still faces some key challenges: how to maintain its audiences and how to protect its sources and self-employed people in Russia. The Pskov newspaper, for example, had to shut down its website for two months. Even their social media channels were interrupted for two weeks. When they reopened, their audience was a small fraction of their normal size.
Despite being forced into exile, Mr. Kamalyagin recently unearthed an exclusive story about a group of 60 Russian soldiers who refused to fight in Ukraine. The figure has now risen to several hundred, he said.
“As long as we have sources in Russia and as long as we can access data and documents, we will continue to work,” Kamalyagin said.
“It’s a strange feeling to work this way, but we have no choice; we must do our utmost to inform people about what is happening. Our work has become more important now, because there are fewer and fewer investigative journalists in Russia. “
Ms Abramova said she hoped the Russians would take note of Meduza’s independent reports.
“There are people who are deeply influenced by Russian propaganda, but there are also people who know that something is wrong but they are afraid,” he said.
“It is our duty to keep them informed.”
Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, which give you a concise summary of the most important headlines of the day. Sign up today.