While President Vladimir Putin is waging war against Ukraine, he is waging a parallel battle on the domestic front, removing the last remnants of Russia’s free press.
On Thursday, the pillars of Russia’s independent media collapsed under pressure from the state. Echo of Moscow, the free radio station founded by Soviet dissidents in 1990 and symbolizing Russia’s new freedoms, was “liquidated” by its board. TV Rain, the youth independent television station that calls itself the “optimistic channel”, said it would cease operations indefinitely.
And Dmitry Muratov, the journalist who shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year, said his newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which survived the murders of six of its journalists, could also be on the verge of closure.
“Everything that is not propaganda is eliminated,” Mr Muratov said.
Accelerating the demise of the publications were the plans of the Russian parliament to adopt legislation on Friday, which will make news considered “fake” about the Russian war in Ukraine, punishable by years in prison. The Russian authorities have already made it clear that the very act of calling it a “war” – the Kremlin prefers the term “special military operation” – is considered misinformation.
“We will punish those who spread panic using counterfeits by up to 15 years,” senior MP Sholban Kara-ol said on Thursday. During World War II, he said, such people “would be shot on the spot.”
The crackdown on independent journalists – many fleeing the country this week for fear of worsening repression – has added to Russia’s sense of crisis. The economy continued to shake with Western sanctions as airlines canceled more international flights and more companies stopped operations – including Ikea, a Swedish furniture retailer, a totem for Russia’s middle class and an employer of about 15,000 Russians.
Mr Putin seemed disobedient to the crisis and the Western furor. He told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call that his goal of securing “demilitarization and a neutral status for Ukraine” would be “achieved in spite of everything,” according to the Kremlin. The second round of peace talks in Belarus did not lead to a breakthrough, although Ukraine said Russia had agreed to “humanitarian corridors” to allow civilians to leave areas of intense fighting.
“Unfortunately, the results that Ukraine needs have not yet been achieved,” said Mykhailo Podoliak, one of Ukraine’s representatives.
In a televised speech Thursday night, Mr Putin personally acknowledged Russian casualties in the fighting and praised Russian troops as heroes fighting the “fascists”, like Hitler’s invading army.
The Ukrainian resistance, Putin said, is just evidence of the brainwashing of Western propaganda and neo-Nazis.
“I will never give up my conviction that the Russians and the Ukrainians are one people,” he said. “This is despite the fact that some Ukrainians have been intimidated and many have been misled by neo-Nazi, nationalist propaganda.
However, many Russians did not join the story. Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, became Russia’s largest company on Thursday, publicly distancing itself from the war by issuing a statement on its board of directors calling for an “immediate end”.
So far, Russian independent media, led by Echo of Moscow, TV Rain and Novaya Gazeta, have voted for these Russians.
“There is a lot of anti-war sentiment in Russia – I would say it’s genetic,” said Alexei A. Venediktov, longtime editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow, in an interview Thursday, citing the enduring signs of World War II. “War is not a victory. The war is a horror, it is a tragedy, it is a loss in every family. “
As a result, Mr Venediktov said, the Kremlin intends to control the narrative of its “special military operation” in Ukraine even more intensely than it otherwise controls the media.
Echo of Moscow is owned by Gazprom, the state’s energy giant, but has often been harshly critical of the Kremlin. Analysts say the station survived thanks to Mr Venediktov’s personal ties to the ruling elite and Mr Putin’s desire to maintain a look of pluralism amid his creeping authoritarianism. For example, he voted for supporters of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei A. Navalny and reflected the wave of protests he sparked in Russia early last year.
Updated
March 3, 2022, 6:32 pm ET
During the war in Ukraine, the Echo of Moscow included interviews with Ukrainian journalists describing the horrors of the Russian invasion, a decision that seems to cross the border. On Tuesday, authorities removed Echo of Moscow from the airwaves for the first time since the 1991 Soviet coup attempt, and on Thursday the board of directors decided to shut down the radio station altogether.
“We have fallen under the steam roller of military censorship,” Mr Venediktov said.
TV Rain was founded in 2010 by media entrepreneur Natalia Sindeeva and TV director Vera Krichevskaya. It has become a symbol of free-thinking journalism and a place where young journalists can start their careers.
Although the Kremlin challenged the channel, it always found a way to persevere. In 2014, cable networks removed TV Rain from their packages, which cost the channel about 80 percent of its audience. Then focus on the subscription model.
On Thursday, TV Rain aired a full news report on YouTube, after which Ms. Sindeeva announced that the store was closing, at least for now.
“We need time to exhale and think about how to proceed,” said Ms. Sindeeva. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s telecommunications regulator, blocked the store on Tuesday, accusing it of inciting extremism, abusing Russian citizens, causing mass disruptions to public order and security, and encouraging protests.
“I do not want to cry because we have experienced so much in this life, we have overcome so many difficulties and we have never given up,” said Ms. Sindeeva. “We very much hope that we will return to some platform because our work is so important to our audience.”
The war between Russia and Ukraine: key things you need to know
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A Ukrainian city is falling. Russian troops gained control of Kherson, the first city to be conquered during the war. Overtaking Kherson is important because it allows the Russians to control much of Ukraine’s southern coast and push west toward the city of Odessa.
Since the last broadcast of TV Rain, various employees – some of whom have just fled the country – have appeared live on the company’s YouTube channel. They gathered in the studio with Ms. Sindeeva and through Zoom, while more than 110,000 spectators joined. In speeches that passed emotionally and tearfully, they spoke about their work, the state of the Russian media and the achievements of the channel, and offered words of reinforcement to all who watch.
Tikhon Dzyadko, editor-in-chief of TV Rain, confirmed on Wednesday that he had left Russia due to fears for his safety. “We have to take responsibility for being on the right side of history,” Mr Dziadko said.
At the end of the live broadcast, those who increased increased, and all others left the studio. “Not in the war,” Ms. Sindeeva said as the lights went out.
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake appeared within seconds. During the 1991 attempt to overthrow Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet state television set Swan Lake on the line.
It did the same while the country waited for the party leadership to elect successors to Soviet prime ministers Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko and Yuri Andropov. That was a subtle hint: Even Mr. Putin is not forever.
Mr Muratov of Novaya Gazeta said he understood Ms Sindeeva’s decision and that she was “making a responsible decision regarding the protection of the safety of her journalists”.
Like his colleagues, Mr Muratov felt the pressure of the approaching government. In the last few days, he said the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which he runs, has received fines of 1,300,000 rubles, or about $ 12,000.
In the offices of Echo of Moscow on Thursday, Mr Venediktov said that in the “regular country” the Echo of Moscow would be considered banal. “We stick to old-fashioned, traditional journalism, where all points of view must be shared and where forbidden topics can be discussed, politically, not,” Mr Venediktov said.
But Echo of Moscow refused to stick to the official themes of triumph and progress, instead delving into the problems and culprits. Ukrainian experts and politicians were invited to speak on the air.
“Because everyone is listening to us, from the president to the opposition leaders, we are influential,” Mr Venediktov said. “The authorities see a threat in us.”
The controversial point was what we would call the war in Ukraine.
“They want to give the public the impression that this is a short, effective operation without many casualties,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank. “The regime pays a lot of attention to words or lack of words.” He took as an example Mr Navalny, an opposition figure in Russia whom Mr Putin did not mention by name.
“This is not a matter of the media, it is about freedom of speech in the public sphere,” said Mr Venediktov. “You can’t talk for or against something. This is a crime. “
The report was provided by Ivan Nechepurenko and Alina Lobzina.