When opening the “Meduza.io” website, the first thing that catches your eye is a red banner on a black background with the words «help Meduza, help now». For some hours, the independent newspaper has in fact sounded an alarm for its own survival: «The Russian authorities have begun to disturb the independent media because of the war. We recommend that you download our app. We need your help, please support Meduza ». And again: «Dear readers, this is a short but important message. Please read it. We don’t know if the Kremlin will block independent media during the war. But we have to prepare for the worst. The most reliable way to read Meduza is to download our app. Do it immediately ».
From the site there is also a landing page that refers to an appeal, even more heartfelt, in which the editorial staff explains that «the Kremlin is doing everything possible to hide the truth about its war against Ukraine. Russia is under military censorship. The authorities forbid the press to call this large-scale invasion of Ukraine a war and threaten journalists who publish independently verified information on the conflict for up to 15 years in prison. And again: «” Meduza “was launched in Europe in 2014, shortly after the annexation of Crimea to Russia. For eight years we have worked to produce independent journalism under the most unfavorable conditions. Millions of people in Russia now rely on our relationships. But a few days ago our journalists were forced to leave the country ». With the invasion of Ukraine, the question of collecting money has also become complicated, on which the independent site based much of its survival: «Since the outbreak of this war, transferring money from Russia to Europe has been impossible. We have lost 30,000 donors. At the moment, we don’t get any money from Russia at all. In this situation – the reporters write – we turn to you. We ask you to take the place of our devoted supporters in Russia. Save “Meduza” for our Russian readers and for yourself. We have a duty to tell the truth. We have millions of readers in Russia who need us. Without independent journalism, it will be impossible to stop this monstrous war ».
What is “Meduza.io”
“Meduza.io” is an independent newspaper and also a news aggregator selected – unlike the others – manually. Born in 2014 at the instigation of Galina Timčenko, former editor-in-chief of the Russian news site “Lenta.ru”, it is based in Riga, Latvia: a choice made because, dealing with Russia, he wanted to be free from the interference of Moscow. over the years “Meduza.io” has had many attacks, direct or indirect, by Russian President Vladimir Putin: in June 2019 the tsar attempted to indict drug possession journalist Ivan Golunov was arrested in Moscow by Russian police for drug possession . Colleagues and friends of Golunov, who was later arrested in Moscow, demonstrated several times for his release. The reporter was then cleared, in a few days, of all charges because the evidence against him was so botched that they could not stand before the judge. But the toughest clash between Putin and the journalists of the independent site – which is also close to Putin’s staunch opponent, Alexei Navalny – took place last April, when the Russian president classified “Me duza.io ”as a« foreign agent », a way to limit freedom of expression and association. This classification was defined by a 2012 law that has also been applied to independent media for some time. A newspaper that is defined as a “foreign agent” suffers serious consequences: it not only damages the reputation of the newspaper but above all it damages it economically, given that with this label on it is very complicated if not impossible to collect advertising.
Putin’s censorship since the beginning of the war in Ukraine
Four days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin, through the Russian communications and media control service Roskomnadzor, banned the word “war” as well as “attack” and “invasion” and ordered all media to use the word. expression “special military operation”. For weeks in the country any information deemed false by the government has been blocked and sanctions are foreseen, with fines of up to 5 million rubles. If the information is deemed false by the government, it will be blocked. Huge penalties are expected, with fines of up to 5 million rubles (almost 35 thousand euros). Concurrently with the outbreak of the war, there were many demonstrations in Russia during which the police arrested – as of March 13 – over 14,000 people. On the evening of March 14, a Channel One employee broke into the studio with an anti-war sign and was immediately arrested and interrogated.
“Stop the war, do not believe the propaganda”: sensational raid live on the Russian news
The message of the woman who broke into the Russian news: “I’m ashamed of having propaganda for Putin”
Blocking of social networks
But the ax of censorship has not spared, in addition to newspapers and sites, not even social networks: in Russia Facebook, Instagram (from midnight on March 14) and Twitter have been blocked. For the moment, albeit with some limitations, TikTok is still working, which is also used by Moscow to strengthen its propaganda: according to “Vice”, the Kremlin has recruited some influencers to spread pro-Russia content. The Youtube platform has instead “started the blocking of the channels, throughout Europe, of” Russia Today “and” Sputnik “”. In a note, Youtube announces that it will continue to monitor the situation closely.
The ban on “stop war” singers’ shows
On March 15, Moscow banned concerts for Russian stars who spoke out against the war in Ukraine. And a black list was also made for Ukrainian stars who condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for bloodshed in their country. Ukrainian stars who have so far been banned from performing in the Russian Federation are Ivan Dorn, Max Barsky, Nadia Dorofeeva, Potap and Nastya Kamensky, Svetlana Loboda, Vera Brezhnev, Monatik, Alekseev, Okean Elzy, Uno in Canoa and Nervi. Russian celebrities, on the other hand, are Maxim Galkin, Valery Meladze, Boris Grebenshchikov, rappers NoizeMS and Oxxxymiron, the Casta group, Anacondaz, Bloodshed, Film, 2Mashi.