Russia

Russia

Poet Artem Kamardin protests Russia's 2022 partial mobilization with a reading at Moscow's Mayakovsky Square, a site known for its dissident poetry readings since the late 1950s.
Poet Artem Kamardin protests Russia’s 2022 partial mobilization with a reading at Moscow’s Mayakovsky Square, a site known for its dissident poetry readings since the late 1950s. Photo Credit: SOTA
Photo Credit: SOTA

What You Need to Know

Russian authorities jailed 16 writers during 2023, 11 of whom were targeted for anti-war expression.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including many writers, intellectuals, and artists, have fled Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. Many of these émigrés cite censorship and the repression of political opposition, in addition to the threat of conscription, as their reasons for leaving. 

In 2023, Russian authorities detained a significant number of women writers as the Russian feminist movement focused on anti-war resistance. 

Individual Cases

  • Zhenya Berkovich

    Status:

    Theater director and poet Zhenya Berkovich was detained for allegedly “justifying terrorism” in her play “Finist, the Brave Falcon. She… More


  • Nikolay Dayneko

    Status:

    On September 25, 2022, Dayneko was arrested along with Egor Shtovba at the Mayakovsky Readings in Moscow. The next day,… More


  • Artem Kamardin

    Status:

    Kamardin is a poet belonging to the Kabardian ethnic minority in Russia. He was beaten and violently raped by Russian… More


  • Egor Shtovba

    Status:

    In 2022, Shtovba was arrested along with others at the Mayakovsky Readings in Moscow. The next day, Artem Kamardin was… More


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Photo by AP/Lefteris Pitarakis

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.