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Facing Heightened Threats, Russia’s Main Independent Paper Contemplates a Bleak Future

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
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3/25/21
On the way to work at Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta last Monday morning, journalists noticed a strong chemical stench on the street outside their central Moscow office. By the time they sat down at their desks they had spread a clear, noxious substance throughout the building on the soles of their shoes. Only months after opposition leader Alexei Navalny was near-fatally poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, the apparent chemical attack struck fear into many of the paper’s staff. Days later, an elite Chechen regiment released a video interpreted as claiming the attack and demanding Russian President Vladimir Putin punish Novaya Gazeta for reporting on extrajudicial killings in the autonomous region. “We will continue with our investigations,” the paper’s long-serving editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov told The Moscow Times. “That is our answer to these threats.” For Novaya Gazeta — for decades Russia’s leading investigative newspaper and known for breaking stories on the downing of flight MH17 and alleged gay purges in Chechnya — the attack came as a reminder of the risk its independence carries at a time when the Kremlin’s tolerance for Russia’s few remaining independent media outlets appears to be waning.

the work of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who made her name documenting human rights abuses by the Russian army in Chechnya, cemented the paper’s reputation as Russia’s leading investigative outlet. Her 2006 murder by an unknown assassin in her apartment building’s elevator left an indelible mark on Novaya Gazeta, while also winning the newspaper international fame. One of at least four of the paper’s reporters murdered since its founding, Politkovskaya’s office has been left untouched since her death. Outside Novaya Gazeta’s Moscow headquarters, a memorial bust stands in her memory. Today, however, there is an increasing sense among both observers and Novaya Gazeta staff that the unique set of circumstances under which the newspaper has been able to survive and thrive are coming to an end. Specifically, the Russian government’s turn toward anti-western positions abroad and heightened authoritarianism at home leaves Novaya Gazeta’s traditional position as a bastion of free media more vulnerable than ever. “The Kremlin isn’t really interested in what the outside world thinks anymore,” said political commentator Parkhomenko. "We intend to keep on working in Russia, because it's our country. Forcing us out will only make us more dangerous,” said Martynov. “It’s very hard to imagine that we’d all just retire, or go and work for RT.”


Novaya Gazeta (New Gazette) is one of the few remaining investigative broadsheets in Russia. Six Novaya Gazeta journalists have been murdered since 2001.

Reporting for 7 years on human rights abuses by the Russian military during the Second Chechnya War, Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment building on 7 October 2007.
 
Sanctions initiated by various western countries were meant to harm Russia, in general, and damage its economy, specifically. Yet the opposite happened. Sanctions have strengthened Russia and made it better equipped to deal with outside pressure.

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Sanctions initiated by various western countries were meant to harm Russia, in general, and damage its economy, specifically. Yet the opposite happened. Sanctions have strengthened Russia and made it better equipped to deal with outside pressure.

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The Russian population will decline by 700,000 again this year as Putin slims down the country with drug and alcohol abuse, disease and famine. Siberia wants to succeed from the Federation and the eastern provinces are in open rebellion. This is how a murderous dictator becomes the richest person in the world by murdering his own people and stealing the wealth or Russia.

https://www.prb.org/russiasdemographicdeclinecontinues/
https://globalriskinsights.com/2020/10/russias-east-is-fed-up/
 
The Russian population will decline by 700,000 again this year as Putin slims down the country with drug and alcohol abuse, disease and famine. Siberia wants to succeed from the Federation and the eastern provinces are in open rebellion. This is how a murderous dictator becomes the richest person in the world by murdering his own people and stealing the wealth or Russia
thumb_lighten-up-francis-memecrunch-com-lighten-up-francis-50404420.png
 
The Russian population will decline by 700,000 again this year as Putin slims down the country with drug and alcohol abuse, disease and famine. Siberia wants to succeed from the Federation and the eastern provinces are in open rebellion. This is how a murderous dictator becomes the richest person in the world by murdering his own people and stealing the wealth or Russia.

https://www.prb.org/russiasdemographicdeclinecontinues/
https://globalriskinsights.com/2020/10/russias-east-is-fed-up/


And again this year Siberia will be consumed by climate warming wildfires that Moscow doesn't really care about.
 
Yep!

Freedom of speech in Russia is under attack -- just as it is here under the new Dem regime.
 
Yep!

Freedom of speech in Russia is under attack -- just as it is here under the new Dem regime.


No one here attacked you for the asinine post above.
 
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