Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, independent journalists and media have faced an intensifying crackdown, with many declared “foreign agents.” FRONTLINE’s documentary Putin vs. the Press explores how Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, was censored and eventually forced to shut down by the Russian government.

Although Russia’s war on Ukraine has led to an “unprecedented clampdown on the media,” Amnesty International’s Russia researcher Natalia Prilutskaya told FRONTLINE that press freedom was already in a dire position in Russia. Press freedom has seen a steady decline in the country ever since Vladimir Putin, who was first elected to the presidency in 2000, came into power. According to the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index — which is updated annually — Russia ranked 148th among 180 countries in 2014. By 2023, the country’s rank dropped to 164th.

“It’s never been easy to be a journalist in Russia,” Gulnoza Said, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, told FRONTLINE. “Since 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it’s always been quite a difficult job to do.”

She added, “Since he came to power, he has tried to establish a tight lid over the free flow of information.”

Here, we take a closer look at the different tactics that President Putin and the government have used to clamp down on journalists in Russia, and the impact it’s had on press freedom since he came to power.

Journalist Killings Left Unsolved, Journalists Detained

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)’s data, 43 journalists and media workers have been killed in Russia since Putin came to power in late 1999, at least 25 of them in “direct retaliation” for their reporting. One prominent death was that of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote for Novaya Gazeta. Politkovskaya, who wrote investigative pieces exposing the Kremlin’s policies in Chechnya, was shot dead in her apartment building in October 2006. In Putin vs. the Press, Muratov says, “My personal pain, and my fault is we lost so many people, murdered, from the paper,” while recalling Politkovskaya and five other Novaya Gazeta journalists and contributors who were murdered between 2000 and 2009.

Amnesty’s Prilutskaya said Politkovskaya’s murder highlights the impunity tied to the killing of journalists in Russia. Five men were convicted in connection with Politkovskaya’s death, but investigators never found who gave the order to kill her. In 2021, on the 15th anniversary of her death, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “It’s a primary task to ensure the imminence of punishment for such crimes.”

Although the authorities have opened probes into some journalist killings, Said told FRONTLINE that many remain unsolved. She added, “As long as Putin stays in power, we don’t have much hope that there will be any justice in those cases.”

Hundreds of journalists have been arrested since Putin came to power, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). According to a snapshot of arrest data collected by CPJ on Dec. 1, 2022, 19 journalists were in prison after being convicted of different charges, from extortion to treason. Among them is investigative journalist Ivan Safronov who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for allegedly revealing state secrets that were openly available online. RSF reported that many of the imprisoned journalists have been tortured, including Vladislav Yesipenko who claims he was tortured for two days before being taken to a detention center.

Foreign journalists have also not been exempt from Russia’s crackdown. The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich, an American who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained last March during a reporting trip and accused of espionage.

“Evan is wrongfully detained and the charges of espionage against him are false,” Dow Jones chief executive and the Journal publisher Almar Latour and Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a joint statement. “We demand his immediate release and are doing everything in our power to secure it.”

Laws Used to Repress Independent Journalism

Although fewer journalists have been killed in recent years in Russia, Said noted the tactics have “slowly transitioned from physical violence against journalists to limiting them through legislative measures.”

Media experts and press freedom advocates said that the Russian government has been passing laws that make the act of reporting the truth — which could be contrary to the state’s narrative — a crime.

Russia’s repression of the media has “snowballed” over time to create a system where any independent media voice is “outlawed,” Freedom House’s senior research analyst Mike Smeltzer said.

The Russian government first introduced a “foreign agents” law back in 2012 when demonstrators took to the streets to protest against Putin’s return to the presidency, alleging election fraud. The law was used to place limits on civil rights groups funded from abroad and required groups engaging in “political activity” to register as “foreign agents.”

“Year over year, that law has been tightened and new things have been added to it,” Smeltzer told FRONTLINE. “First, it was just a general law about foreign funding. Then, it was applied to foreign media agents. Then, it was applied to individuals and it was applied to broader civil society organizations.”

The Russian government denies that the foreign agent label is censorship, and in a June 2021 interview Putin described it as a way to prevent “interference in our domestic affairs.” However, human rights organizations say the term “foreign agent” in Russia is similar to being labeled a “spy” or “traitor.” There’s no way to contest the designation in court beforehand, and “foreign agents” have to label anything they publish as the work of a foreign agent and submit quarterly financial reports. If they fail to do so, they can face fines or imprisonment. They’re also now prohibited from several activities in public life, such as joining the civil service, donating to election campaigns or teaching minors.

In September, Muratov — whose battle to defend free speech in Putin’s Russia is documented in Putin vs. the Press — was added to the Russian government’s list of “foreign agents.” Less than two years earlier, Muratov had questioned Putin publicly at an October 2021 presidential press conference about journalists being branded foreign agents: “There is no evidence. There is no sentence. You are just branded a criminal.”

In recent years, especially after the start of the Ukraine war, laws relating to freedom of expression, including defamation and spreading “fake” information, have been amended and expanded. Jeanne Cavelier, RSF’s head of the Eastern Europe & Central Asia desk, said that there are more than 50 general laws in Russia that restrict press freedom.

“If you say something about the war which contradicts the position of the defense ministry, then it’s a crime,” Konstantin Sonin, Russian economist and professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, told FRONTLINE.

Disseminating “fake news” or any information about the war in Ukraine that the Russian government deems to be false can lead to imprisonment of up to 15 years and fines of up to five million rubles ($48,245).

In the documentary, Muratov describes the post-invasion environment as “absolutely ferocious censorship.”

Censorship, Blocked Access and Shutdowns of Independent Media

According to RSF, all privately owned independent TV channels have been banned from broadcasting in Russia, with the exception of cable entertainment channels. After lawmakers passed a law in March 2022 criminalizing the spread of “fake” information that discredits the Russian armed forces, the government cut access to several western media outlets such as BBC Russia, Deutsche Welle, Radio Liberty, Euronews, and France 24. Since the start of the war, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, has blocked access to most independent sources of information, including radio station Ekho Moskvy, channel TV Rain, Latvia-based news outlet Meduza, and Muratov’s Novaya Gazeta as well as the Riga-based Novaya Gazeta Europe.

As Putin vs. the Press details, the Russian government launched multiple court cases aimed at closing Novaya Gazeta’s Russian operations. In September 2022, a court invalidated the newspaper’s registration, forcing it to shut down.

The government has also restricted or denied accreditation and the extension of visas to foreign journalists in Russia. According to Reporters Without Borders, those that do continue to operate are allies of the Kremlin or have to censor themselves in order to maintain access.

Russia’s crackdown on the media has also been felt online. The focus has increasingly been “on the online sphere and the threats that the internet poses” to Putin, according to Jessica White, Freedom House’s senior research analyst. Roskomsvoboda, a Russian non-governmental organization that monitors online censorship, reported that as of September 2022, around 1.2 million internet sites were blocked in Russia. The government has also blocked social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The situation for independent media has become “untenable,” forcing many independent news outlets to shut down, said White. Faced with this climate, more than 300 journalists fled the country between February and October 2022, according to RSF.

Said added, “There are very few independent journalists left in Russia. Those who are trying to continue reporting understand that they risk their freedom.”

Muratov, who plans to appeal his foreign agent designation, says in the documentary, “At the moment, there is a civil war in Russia, and a divide in our society. A divide between those who think it is necessary to fight and those who really strongly don’t understand why they should. It’s free media and free elections that are the cure for war.”

Watch the full documentary Putin vs. the Press:

Kaela Malig, Tow Journalism Fellow, FRONTLINE/Columbia Journalism School Fellowship

Email:

janelle_malig@wgbh.org

Twitter:

@kaelamalig