With new foreign agent labels, Russia steps up attack on independent media
Cenzolovka 27.08.2021
The IPI global network today condemned what it called the biggest crackdown on independent media in Russia in several years and urged international condemnation of the escalating assault on media freedom by the Kremlin ahead of next month’s parliamentary election.
Pressure on media by authorities reached a new peak on Friday August 20 when the justice ministry listed the country’s largest independent online broadcaster, TV Rain (Dozhd), a “foreign agent”. Its chief editor, Tikhon Dzyadko, said it will appeal the decision. The same day, investigative platform Vazhnye Istorii (IStories), its editor-in-chief and five journalists were also added to the growing list of “foreign agents”, a label which effectively blacklists the