Russian media pressured to suppress content linked to Navalni

Several Russian media outlets said they had removed, under pressure from Russian government authorities, articles linked to investigations into imprisoned opponent Alexei Navalny, in particular one on “Vladimir Putin’s palace.”

Seven outlets, including Dojd, Meduza, Znak, Echoes of Moscow, Svobodnie Novosti, The Village, and Bumaga said they received notifications from the Roskomnadzor telecommunications control office, urging them to delete dozens of contents.

According to them, these are articles that echo the investigations of the team of anti-corruption activist Navalni, in prison for more than a year, who is considered the main opponent of President Vladimir Putin.

One of these investigations, targeting several high-ranking Kremlin officials, refers to a “palace” of Putin on the shores of the Black Sea.

Posted in January 2021 on YouTube, a few days after Navalni’s arrest, this investigation has so far accumulated more than 121 million views on the internet video network. The Kremlin has denied that this house belongs to Putin.

The Echoes of Moscow radio, the Dojd television network, the independent media Znak and Meduza, as well as the local news agency “Svobodnie Novosti” have already reported having removed the content indicated by Roskomnadzor.

Meduza specified that he gave in “because of the threat that their site in Russia would be blocked”. Contacted by AFP, Roskomnadzor did not immediately confirm that it had sent these requests.

“Roskomnadzor demands to change reality, clean up the internet and abolish facts”, Leonid Volkov, an exile close to Navalni, denounced in a tweet.

In June 2021, Navalni’s main organizations were declared “extremists” by the Russian justice system, a decision that led to their closure and trials against many of their activists.

On January 25, Navalni himself was included in an official list of “terrorists and extremists”.