Kremlin Unwittingly Provides Guide to Remaining Independent Media, Print and Online, in Moscow, the Regions and Republics

 Paul Goble

            Staunton, Feb. 10 – Roskomnadzor, the Russian government’s agency for monitoring and controlling the media, has unwittingly provided a remarkable guide to the remaining independent print and online media not only in Moscow but in the predominantly ethnic Russian regions, the non-Russian republics and in foreign sources directed at all three.

            In March and October of last year, the agency compiled lists of media outlets that published what it believed was “forbidden information.” Those lists have now leaked and been published by Zona.Media (zona.media/article/2023/02/10/spisok; for the lists of more than 400 outlets each, see s3.zona.media/d/a55755e3ad111819d934cfaaf5073216.pdf and s3.zona.media/d/510152773c07482821d1d2a32ec84d80.pdf).

            The sweep of the lists is both disturbing and encouraging, disturbing in that it shows how many more outlets Moscow is monitoring and may take action against to close but encouraging in that it highlights just how many outlets still putting out more critical materials despite everything the Putin regime has done.

            But it is especially important for those who want to track what is going on in the regions and republics. If the outlets in Moscow the powers that be don’t like are well-known, those in the regions and republics are not. But now, thanks to Roskomnadzor and Zona.Media, we -- have a list of the most useful and a list providing both URLs and details about what these sites put out.

            There is currently no better guide as to where to look especially outside of Moscow, and those of use concerned with Russia as a country and not just Russia as an adjunct to the Russian capital can only be grateful for this latest unintended consequence of the Putin regime’s vigilance.