In Face of De Facto Censorship, Regional News Agency ‘7x7’ Struggles to Find Way to Remain Active

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 7 – Oleg Grigorenko, the editor-in-chief of the regional news agency 7x7, and Pavel Andreyev, that agency’s co-creator, say that they are struggling to find a way to remain in operation at a time of de facto censorship because they believe that their actions, even limited, are critical for the future of Russia’s civil society.

            Since Putin launched his broad invasion of Ukraine, “no fewer than 60 publications” have been blocked in many cases because they called his acitons a war rather than the officially opposed “special military operation,” an action that led to the shuttering of these outlets and often the flight of their writers abroad (severreal.org/a/voennaya-cenzura-vlasti-zablokirovali-gorizontal-nuyu-rossiyu-/31740462.html).

            Given the threat of real jail time, Grigorenko and Andreyev say, they can understand why individuals may make that choice; but they argue that the work of their agency which covers developments outside the metropolitan centers is too important to follow that line. Instead, they are prepared to compromise on language in order to continue to do reporting.

            Whether that will be possible, the two say, remains to be seen; but they are confident that a single person working inside Russia can make a bigger contribution to the future of the country than a hundred who choose to go abroad and believe that enough people with civic courage can be found in the regions to continue their agency’s reporting.

            The two say that they believe on the basis of a poll in the Komi Republic that opponents of the war in the population slightly outnumber the share which supports it, 40 percent to 36 percent and say that the idea that the Kremlin has total support for its actions is “an illusion … There is no total support.”

            According to the leaders of 7x7, “in a situation when in Russia everyone who takes part in a protest is at risk of criminal charges,” the real number of opponents of Putin’s war is “a hundred times greater” than the number participating in anti-war demonstrations.”