Russia has arrested two Russian journalists on “extremism” charges in recent days, the latest moves in a continuing crackdown targeting independent reporters and media outlets. A third Russian journalist, with Forbes Russia, was charged with publishing what authorities called “fake news.”
The increasing use of anti-extremism laws to prosecute reporters — one piece of a larger campaign to stifle domestic dissent during Russia’s war in Ukraine — is likely to have a further chilling effect on the few independent journalists still operating in Russia, many of them freelancers or employees of small outlets with few legal protections.
The Associated Press on Saturday reported that video journalist Sergey Karelin, who has worked with the AP, Deutsche Welle and other international outlets had been arrested Friday in the Murmansk region in northern Russia and charged with extremism. He was placed in custody pending trial.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Associated Press on Saturday reported that video journalist Sergey Karelin, who has worked with the AP, Deutsche Welle and other international outlets had been arrested Friday in the Murmansk region in northern Russia and charged with extremism.
Both men are accused of working with the Anti-Corruption Foundation started by Alexei Navalny — President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent political rival until his death in an Arctic prison in February — which Russia has designated an “extremist organization.”
Meanwhile, Sergei Mingazov, a journalist with the Russian edition of Forbes, was arrested in the eastern city of Khabarovsk on Friday and accused of spreading fake news on social media about Russia’s military, according to his lawyer, Konstantin Bubon.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin has jailed hundreds of activists, opposition politicians, LGBTQ+ people, feminists, artists, poets and other perceived enemies, part of what Amnesty International has called an effort to “blindfold” the Russian public.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual Russian American citizen based in Prague for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was arrested last year during a trip to visit family in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent.
The most high-profile case is that of the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich, arrested just over a year ago during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg and charged with spying — allegations that he, his employer and the State Department have denied in the strongest terms.
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