Journalism under investigation
Persecution of journalists and bloggers in Russia since the start of the war with Ukraine
The updated "NeMoskva" database
Persecution of journalists in modern Russia is a chronic phenomenon. You are probably familiar with the high-profile deal former Meduza investigator Ivan Golunov, who was planted drugs by police. You may have also read about deal Svetlana Prokopyeva, accused of justifying terrorism, was charged for a column in which the Radio Liberty journalist discussed the motives behind the actions of anarchist Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who carried out an explosion at the Arkhangelsk FSB headquarters. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the persecution of journalists, media activists, and bloggers has become widespread, in part because the list of criminal offenses has been expanded to include articles on "discrediting" the Russian armed forces and military "fakes." The latter article, Article 207.3, is the most frequently used. In this database, we summarize information on the persecution of journalists since February 2022.
The people included in the database have varied trajectories in the media, and NeMoskva does not always share their values. However, we are convinced that the current Russian practice of persecuting journalists clearly violates the fundamental principle of freedom of speech, which is still enshrined in Article 29 of the Russian Constitution.
We compiled this database based on the following criteria: 1) the individual produces and distributes media content, 2) is under criminal prosecution, and 3) the prosecution began after February 24, 2022. While the applicable article is not always formally related to the professional or media activism of the accused or convicted individual, we deemed this filter unsuitable for selection, simply because the practice of using various pretexts to persecute inconvenient and undesirable individuals is widespread.
*Almost all cases under this article were brought against foreign journalists who entered the Kursk region during the Ukrainian Armed Forces offensive.
**A large number of extortion cases are related to the likely redistribution of the Telegram channel market in 2022, initiated, according to the publication Proekt, by a Rostec executive and the husband of media producer Tina Kandelaki. Criminal cases were opened against a large number of channel administrators, and we have only included those in our database where, in our opinion, there is reason to doubt or the severity of the punishment is disproportionate to the offense.
Base
Journalists are listed in the database in chronological order (based on the date we know the persecution began). To search the page, press Ctrl+F. Click on the cards to learn more.
Last updated: May 1, 2026
*The territory was occupied by Russia from 2014 to 2022 and is not recognized by the international community as Russian territory. We included this case in the database because the person involved is being prosecuted under Russian law.
The database is updated monthly. If you find an error or would like to add information, please write to Telegram bot.
