[In a country where journalists are regularly arrested and
detained for little or no reason, publicly signing a letter opposing
the government’s action is a brave thing to do, especially for those
who have already been detained for their journalism.]
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INSIDE RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS’ FIGHT AGAINST PUTIN’S INVASION OF
UKRAINE  
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David Gilbert
February 25, 2022
Vice
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_ In a country where journalists are regularly arrested and detained
for little or no reason, publicly signing a letter opposing the
government’s action is a brave thing to do, especially for those who
have already been detained for their journalism. _

Demonstrators march with a banner that reads: “Ukraine – Peace,
Russia – Freedom”, in Moscow, Feb. 24, 2022,

 

Elena Chernenko, a journalist for the Moscow daily _Kommersant_, woke
up Friday to find out that access to top government officials she’s
had for over a decade had suddenly been revoked.

Her crime?

Publishing an open letter not criticizing the government but voicing
her opposition to war. Over 280 other journalists signed Chernenko’s
letter, including some who are employed directly by the Kremlin at
state-run news agencies.

The Kremlin told Chernenko it was removing her access to the Foreign
Ministry for “unprofessional” behavior, but the punishment was
clearly designed to have a chilling effect on Russian journalists’
outspoken criticism of the war in Ukraine in the last 24 hours. 

As Russian forces began building up their numbers close to the
Ukrainian borders in recent months, Chernenko wasn’t concerned about
war breaking out.

“I was pretty sure from talking to officials here but also to
experts that this was kind of a chess game, a diplomatic chess game to
force Ukraine and NATO into negotiations,” Chernenko told VICE World
News on Friday morning.

Despite her years of experience and role as the head of the foreign
desk at the Moscow-based daily newspaper _Kommersant_, Chernenko was
“shocked” to see pictures of Russian troops pouring over the
border with Ukraine and bombs dropping on cities such as Kyiv and
Kharkiv.

In her shock, she tweeted: “I have no words.”

But that wasn’t entirely true; she had at least 45 words:

“We, correspondents of the Russian media and experts who write about
Russia’s foreign policy, condemn the military operation launched by
the Russian Federation in Ukraine. War has never been and never will
be a method of resolving conflicts and there is no justification for
it.”

This is the text of the open letter Chernenko and a colleague penned
as the full horror of what was unfolding in Ukraine came into focus. 

“This was an idea of mine and another colleague when we saw what had
started happening [Thursday] morning,” Chernenko told VICE World
News. “We felt that we needed to express our position toward this
military operation of our government that we don’t see as
justified.”

Initially, Chernenko shared the letter with five or six journalists
whom she felt would sign. But by the end of the day, over 280
journalists had put their name on the letter, including some who
worked for the state-backed Russian media.

While many outside Russia might view the decision by journalists to
put their name to a letter publicly rebuking the Kremlin as brave,
Chernenko sees it differently.

“It’s not a radical protest, an anti-government protest,”
Chernenko said. “It’s an anti-war letter. It’s just journalists
saying that we don’t support a military operation.”

The sanctions against Chernenko may be just the beginning of the
Kremlin’s crackdown on media and journalists who are not toeing the
government’s line, with censorship, denial of access to officials,
and even arrests a possibility as the Kremlin attempts to justify its
actions in Ukraine to its own citizens.

While the majority of journalists on the list come from independent
media organizations such as _Kommersant_, RBC, and _Novaya Gazeta_,
at least three journalists are from state-run media organizations. 

None of the three responded to VICE World News’ request for comment.
However, in Russian media Telegram channels, some of their colleagues
are already calling for them to be fired for their public stance,
according to Alexey Kovalyov, investigations editor at Meduza, who
spoke to VICE World News.

Russia was rated as “bad” when it comes to press freedom,
ranking 150th out of 180 countries [[link removed]] in
Reporters Without Borders’ 2021 Press Freedom Index. 

“With draconian laws, website-blocking, internet cuts, and leading
news outlets reined in or throttled out of existence, the pressure on
independent media has grown steadily since the big anti-government
protests in 2011 and 2012,” RSF wrote in its assessment of life
under Putin’s rule.

In a country where journalists are regularly arrested and detained for
little or no reason, publicly signing a letter opposing the
government’s action is a brave thing to do, especially for those who
have already been detained for their journalism.

One of those is Ilya Azar, a correspondent for _Novaya Gazeta_ who
has covered past conflicts in Ukraine. While he has been detained
twice for his work, he didn’t think twice about signing the letter.

“We don’t have many instruments to influence the authorities in
Russia nowadays, so we must use every opportunity,” Azar told VICE
World News. “There wasn’t any doubt for me to sign this letter.
This is very, very far from the required level of pressure on Putin to
stop this fucking war, but at least this is something.”

For Kovalyov, the investigations editor, the reasons for signing were
straightforward.

“I signed it because I agree with this premise,” he said.
“It’s very simple. I am a Russian journalist who covers, among
other things, Russian foreign policy, and I can see this for what it
is: It’s a war against Ukraine, which is completely illegal,
completely illogical.”

For Tatiana Petrushchenkova, a freelance business and technology
journalist in Moscow, the reasons for publicly opposing the Russian
government were more personal.

“I’m shocked, hurt, and ashamed, and I don’t want to just sit
and wait and do nothing,” Petrushchenkova told VICE World News.
“My closest friends have relatives in Ukraine, and right now these
relatives have to use the subway as a bomb shelter.”

When asked if she was worried about reprisals from the Kremlin for her
public stance against the war, Petrushchenkova said: “I didn’t
have time to think about it, and I’m not even sure I care. I do not
work with state-run media, and as for independent media, life has been
hard for them for quite a long time already. It will only be more
difficult, and this letter is just a small part of it. Plus, the more
people sign letters like this, the less risk there is for one
particular person.”

In a chilling reminder to journalists in Russia, Roskomnadzor
[[link removed]], the country’s media
regulator, posted a message
[[link removed]] to the media on Thursday
reminding them of their “duty” to publish information only from
official government sources and the consequences for disseminating
“knowingly false information.”

State-backed media are following this directive closely, referring to
the invasion as a “special operation” and not as a war, for
example.

But independent media are obviously not, and Kovalyov fears the
statement could be used by the Russian government to censor
independent media.

“Rozkomnadzor said it’s illegal to publish any information
that’s not coming from Russian official sources, which obviously we
are not doing, so if we’re going to be blocked, it’s probably
going to be for that,” Kovalyov said.

Other letters are being circulated inside Russia to raise awareness of
the widespread opposition to the war.

Almost 650 Russian scientists and science journalists
[[link removed]] have
signed their own letter condemning the Kremlin’s actions. 

Russia’s Trade Union of Journalists, whose co-chair Sofya Rusova
publicly protested the war in front of the Kremlin on Thursday, has
also published an open letter opposing the war and called on the
government to allow journalists to do their job.

Mikhail Zygar, a prominent Russian journalist who is the founding
editor-in-chief of the only independent Russian news TV channel,
Dozhd, also penned an open letter, which was signed by a dozen
high-profile writers, journalists, and playwrights.

Among those who signed Zygar’s letter is Dmitry Muratov, the editor
of _Novaya Gazeta,_ who in 2021 won a Nobel Prize alongside
Philippine journalist Maria Ressa for his “efforts to safeguard
freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and
lasting peace.” 

In a video published on Thursday, Muratov blasted Putin for
warmongering.

“The commander-in-chief spins the ‘nuclear button’ in his hands
like a keychain from an expensive car. Is the next step a nuclear
salvo? I cannot interpret Vladimir Putin’s words about a retaliatory
weapon in any other way,” Muratov said in a video posted to YouTube
[[link removed]], adding, “Only the
anti-war movement of Russians can save life on this planet.”

Muratov said that his newspaper’s next edition will be published in
both Russian and Ukrainian.

The journalists’ public rebuke of the invasion mirrors the actions
of thousands of people who took to the streets of Russian cities
Thursday night to vocally protest the invasion of Ukraine.

But almost immediately, Russian riot police began stamping out the
demonstrations, and by the end of the day Russia had arrested at
least 1,745 people across 54 cities
[[link removed]],
with over half of the arrests in Moscow. 

Among them were at least three journalists from Radio Free Europe, who
recorded their arrest and posted the video online. Radio Free Europe
told VICE World News the three journalists were released later
Thursday.

While the Kremlin may be busy with its attack on Ukraine right now,
some journalists who signed the list are worried punishment could come
some day. 

“Maybe the Kremlin now has a blacklist of journalists who signed the
letter, and we will have some problems in the future,” Yana
Pashaeva, a freelance journalist who works with Reuters, told VICE
World News.

For Azar, he’s prepared to suffer the consequences.

“Well, I’ve been [detained] twice for 25 days for my political
activities, so I’m ready for everything,” Azar said. “But I
don’t expect any reaction from the Kremlin at all. But today, after
the impossible—war with Ukraine—happened, one must expect anything
to happen.”

_More articles by David Gilbert.
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