In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where the “special operation” in Ukraine is coupled with a ruthless propaganda campaign, the last independent media have been muzzled by two new laws: using the word “war” or criticizing the action of the army is now liable to prison terms of up to fifteen years.
To better isolate the population, the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter networks have been blocked. Even the most famous opposition newspaper, Novaia Gazeta, had to resolve to suspend its publication. As for the last independent radio station, the Echo of Moscow, it was banned from broadcasting on March 3, 2022. It employed 180 people, for 1 million listeners. A team of “Special Envoy” was able to meet its editor in the Russian capital.
A pig’s head on the landing, an anti-Semitic sticker on the front door
“You can’t do anything when the whole state is against you, starting with the president himself“, reacts Alexei Venediktov, who expected this ban. His relations in the Kremlin confirmed it to him: “The orders come directly from the top of the state.“
“I think that in Russia, after the job of a miner, that of a journalist is the most dangeroushe continues. It is the one where you are the most attacked, the most threatened.” Alexei Venediktov shows a photo on his smartphone: in front of the door of his home, a pig’s head has been left by a fake delivery man. Above, an anti-Semitic sticker has been plastered. Are these intimidation attempts to be taken? seriously ? “It’s neither the first nor the last time“, sighs the editor-in-chief. And to add, in French: “Business risks…“
Excerpt from “Russia: the war of words”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on April 28, 2022.
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