"Open Media" and "Human Rights Postcards" announced the cessation of work

Open Media stop working on August 5, a similar decision was made by the Human Rights Postcards. The night before, both projects were blocked by Roskomnadzor at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office.

“We consider it important to state that we have never worked with unwanted structures,” reports the Open Media Telegram channel . Journalists emphasize that the project was launched in 2017 and the ex-head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, provided him with a five-year grant through one of his companies, which was “never hidden” in the publication.

On the evening of August 4, the Open Media website was blocked at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office by Roskomnadzor, where it was reported that the reason was the connection with organizations deemed undesirable in Russia. The publication notes that it did not receive confirmation of this information from the RKN and the Prosecutor General's Office, but together with the investor decided to stop work, since "the risks for the project employees are too great."

“Unfortunately, the authorities do not need media projects with a critical look at what is happening in the country, the more criticism, the shorter the life of the project. But at least we tried,” the journalists write.

Almost simultaneously with Open Media, ​​were the websites of MBKh Media and Pravozashchita Otkryka blocked. Anastasia Burakova, coordinator of Human Rights Postcards, announced the termination of the organization's work.

UPD: MBH Media announced the termination of its activities. “This time, the risks are too great – not only for the journalists who worked on the resource, but also for any people who liked our content and decided to share it with others,” said Veronika Kutsyllo, editor-in-chief of the publication .

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This spring, the Russian authorities have critically stepped up pressure on independent publications.

• In April, recognition as a foreign agent brought down the Meduza business model.

• In May, the economic publication VTimes was recognized as a foreign agent - it closed two weeks later .

• In July, the Proekt publication was recognized as an "undesirable" organization, and some of its journalists, including editor-in-chief Roman Badanin, were included in the list of foreign media agents.
• The Ministry of Justice also included four Open Media journalists, including editor-in-chief Yulia Yarosh, in the list of media outlets that are foreign agents.

We talked about what the status of an undesirable organization and foreign agents threatens here .