Russia represses the media: five journalists are detained, E. Gershkovich is expected to be implicated

Since Moscow sent its troops to Ukraine more than two years ago, journalistic work has been made more and more dangerous and illegal by the Russian authorities, and those who object to the Kremlin’s narratives have been detained and punished.

Antonina Favorskaya, a journalist for the independent media outlet SOTAvision, was brought in for questioning late Tuesday after serving a 10-par prison sentence for flowers placed at the grave of the dead opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The police also detained her colleagues Aleksandr Astachov and Anastasij Musatov, who came to meet her at the detention center where she was to be released, SOTAVision reported.

Also early Thursday morning, the police detained journalists Yekaterin Anikievi from SOTAvision and Konstantin Arov from the RusNews website. They were arrested while filming at the house of A. Favorskaja.

K. arovas told RusNews that this could be the reason for his detention, but according to OVD-Info, the charges against them remain unclear.

They told us that we are drug addicts, that the wearers come with an unclear purpose, said K. arovas.

They didn’t find an arrest record, although they kicked me, kicked me on the head, twisted the saunas, yelled at me when I tried to get up, demanded to show me my backpack, as if there could be explosives in it, he told the publication.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia has banned, blocked or tried to censor almost all independent media organizations operating in the country.

After the outbreak of the full-scale war, many independent journalists fled, and those who remained are in constant danger. US journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmaeva are currently awaiting trial in a Russian prison.

Evan Gershkovich to exchange prisoners

The Kremlin announced on Thursday that discussions are underway regarding the possible release of The Wall Street Journal journalist E. Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia for almost a year on charges of embezzlement, in exchange for a Russian prison.

In March 2023, 32 US citizens were arrested by FSB counter-government agents and charged with embezzlement. This is the first such accusation against a Western journalist in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal and the White House have vehemently denied the allegations against him, which he says are fabricated.

Vladimir Putin has said that E. Gershkovich would be freed through a prisoner exchange, and the Kremlin said on Thursday that talks are still taking place behind the scenes.

We repeatedly say that there is a certain contact, but they must take place completely quietly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

breaking this silence will only cause additional problems and will not allow to achieve any result in the process, he added, without giving any details.

A Moscow court this week will remand E. Gershkovich, who previously worked as a reporter for the English-language news site The Moscow Times and AFP news agency, until the end of April.

D. Peskov said at a press conference on Thursday that there is no information on when the trial will begin. Some observers have suggested that a prisoner swap before the verdict is likely.

Washington accuses Moscow that the Russians are dutifully detaining US citizens on unfounded charges in order to use them as a bargaining chip to secure Russian release abroad.

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