Despite Pressure, Some Independent Media Managing to Survive in Russian Regions Near the Border

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 3 – After Putin launched his expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian authorities launched a massive campaign to close down or block independent media in regions outside of Moscow (meduza.io/feature/2022/03/05/rossiyskie-vlasti-za-neskolko-dney-razgromili-ves-media-rynok-vot-kak-eto-vyglyadit).

            That effort was so widespread that many concluded that all independent media in the predominantly ethnic Russian regions had disappeared, leaving both residents of these regions and others interested in developments there without this source of what is going on in these places.

            But despite that official effort to destroy independent media in places where those who prepare and disseminate have fewer resources to defend themselves against the power of the state, a few independent media outlets continue to exist, although all are under pressure and many may soon be forced to close down or go into emigration.

            The Okno portal reports on three survivors, the Arctic Observer in Murmansk (murmansk.ru/), Fonar TV in Belgorod (fonar.tv/), and Pskov Gubernia formerly of Pskov and now in Riga (gubernia.media/). The first two function despite harassment and official blandishments by focusing on local issues and the last by moving across the border to Latvia.

            The journalists in all three, many of whom began their careers in the more open 1990s, are truly heroic; but their work deserves attention because they provide glimpses into the lives, concerns and aspirations of the peoples of their regions; and they challenge the view that there is nothing go on worth noticing in the media of predominantly Russian regions outside of Moscow. 

            It is unlikely that independent regional media deep within Russia can survive if Putin remains in power for many more years, but its branches in ports or border areas can either by relying on the more diverse possibilities to get information and support in those places than elsewhere or even moving abroad and relying on freelancers and remaining open sources.