Russia
Russia’s crackdown on free expression has intensified as part of broader efforts to stifle opposition to its war in Ukraine and solidify restrictions on critics and civil society. Authorities wield charges of terrorism and “discrediting” and “disseminating false information,” alongside foreign agent and extremism designations, to control artistic expression and discourage independent expression by writers and other cultural figures, including on LGBTQ+ themes.
As well as suppressing dissent within Russia, Russian authorities continue to kill Ukrainian journalists, writers, and cultural workers; imprison Ukrainian journalists in occupied regions; and target theaters, museums, and other cultural spaces in its war against Ukraine.
What You Need to Know
Continuing a crackdown that began after the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, over half of the writers jailed in Russia are jailed for their anti-war expression.
Censorship, repression of dissenting voices, and the threat of conscription have caused hundreds of thousands of people, including many writers and cultural figures, to flee Russia since the start of the war.
Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown on and control of the internet, banning global messaging apps, blocking thousands of sites and social media platforms, and criminalizing circumvention tools like VPNs.
News
Individual Cases
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Nikolay Dayneko
Status: ImprisonedIn September 2022, poet Dayneko was arrested along with Egor Shtovba at the Mayakovsky Readings in Moscow. The next day,… More
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Artem Kamardin
Status: ImprisonedKamardin is a poet belonging to the Kabardian ethnic minority in Russia. He was beaten and violently raped by Russian… More
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Yury Alexeyevich Dmitriev
Status: ImprisonedA historian who researched Stalinist atrocities and head of the Karelia branch of the human rights organization Memorial, Dmitriev was… More
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Svetlana Petriychuk
Status: ImprisonedPlaywright Svetlana Petriychuk was detained in May 2023 for writing the play Finist, the Bright Falcon. She was accused alongside… More
Russian Independent Media Archive
The Russian Independent Media Archive is preserving the last two decades of independent Russian journalism, guarding this irreplaceable historical record against erasure as media outlets not aligned with the regime of President Vladimir Putin are shuttered and their reporters and editors cast into exile.