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Police arrest a protester in front of the FSB headquarters in Moscow, she holds up a poster that reads "Journalism is not a crime"
Photo: Denis Kaminev / AP
The bad news for journalists in Russia comes on Friday evenings.
Then the Justice Department updates its "agent register," the infamous list of names of media and journalists who are declared "foreign agents."
There are now 25 individuals, mainly journalists, but also human rights activists, and 18 media organizations listed.
Most recently, it hit the only remaining independent online TV broadcaster Doschd (TV Rain) and investigative Internet portals such as Waschnyje Istorii (Important Stories) and The Insider.
Who else will the authorities declare to be "agents"?
Many independent journalists in Russia are now concerned with this question.
You had to watch how the freedom for critical (online) media in Russia became smaller and smaller before the upcoming elections in mid-September.
The security authorities have cracked down on independent journalists at breakneck speed over the past few months.
In the past year and a half alone, Russia has passed countless laws aimed primarily at subduing online media and thus controlling content, as a new report by Reporters Without Borders shows.
Arrests, house searches and attacks
The human rights organization had already complained in a comprehensive report at the end of 2019 about how massively the Kremlin is trying to restrict the Internet.
This development has intensified again in the last few months.
In addition to the members of the State Duma, new regional parliaments will also be elected in many regions of Russia on September 19.
The new report, which was supposed to be an update, fills 53 pages.
On 12 pages alone, the author Ulrike Gruska lists cases of arrests, house searches, violent attacks and repression against journalists.
The overview of the most important new laws with which Russia is further restricting media and internet freedom in the shadow of the corona pandemic is ten pages long.
Declared the enemy
Agent status is one of the regime's sharpest weapons.
He used to meet non-governmental organizations, now it can also be used against any medium and private person who disseminates information and receives money from abroad.
As is so often the case in Russia, the law in question is formulated rather vaguely and leaves the authorities a lot of leeway.
The status of the alleged agent not only leads to the fact that those affected are practically labeled enemies of the people in public, which makes their work more difficult and advertising income is lost.
But it also means that those affected have to disclose all their finances and regularly report to the authorities.
These statements will be published later.
Minor violations can result in fines and imprisonment.
Those who report in Russia today independently and not true to the state-prescribed line are exposing themselves and their relatives to great risks, says Christian Mihr, managing director of Reporters Without Borders.
Silence online media
Online media in particular are now being put under increasing pressure.
So far, the Internet has been the most important place where independent reporting was still possible in Russia.
At the beginning of his term in office in 2000, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin gradually made sure that the space for independent and critical reporting was reduced: first television was placed under state control, then most newspapers - also through change of ownership or economic pressure - were opened Line brought.
Independent and investigative reporting increasingly shifted to the Internet.
Various online portals and »Project« were founded there.
It made a name for itself with courageous research, uncovered how corona statistics were glossed over in the regions of Russia, and also reported on Putin's alleged third illegitimate daughter.
The internet portal is now considered an »undesirable organization«, which equates to a ban in Russia.
The employees have been declared "agents".
»Project« is not the only online portal that has had to stop working; four more have been added in the past few months.
"This is an alarming development," said Christian Mihr from Reporters Without Borders.
"The online media are now being destroyed one by one."
Climate of fear
Insecurity and fear are also increasing in the population, writes Reporters Without Borders, also because laws can be applied arbitrarily to prevent unpleasant media reports and discussions on social networks.
For example, the penalties for disseminating false information have been increased and the penalties for defamation have been expanded.
In the meantime, they face several years of imprisonment again.
But the regime doesn't just take action against journalists and users.
Russia is also putting increasing pressure on the operators of social networks.
They had to pay heavy fines for not blocking content as requested by the media regulator.
It mainly hits western platforms such as Facebook and Google. The sum of the fines against Twitter alone in the first half of 2021 was nine times as high as that against the Russian Facebook variant VKontakte.
