Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defends wartime censorship, says exiled journalists are “working to discredit Russia”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently gave an interview to the Russian magazine Expert about the state of the country's media following nearly three-and-a-half years of full-scale war.

Peskov said that Russia is currently experiencing “a time of wartime censorship — unprecedented for our country.” He defended the censorship measures as justified, claiming that “the war is also being fought in the information space.” According to Peskov, independent media outlets and journalists working in exile are “deliberately working to discredit Russia.”

He added that, domestically, there has been an increase in “materials with patriotic content or tone,” a development Peskov characterized as a “positive trend.” He suggested that this trend would continue, as “being a patriot is a normal human condition.”

According to a 2023 report by the JX Fund (co-founded by Reporters Without Borders), between 1,500 and 1,800 Russian journalists left the country following the invasion of Ukraine. In May 2025, Russia dropped to a record low position in the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Press Freedom Index, ranking 171st out of 180 countries.

In 2023, Russia’s Prosecutor General declared the independent outlet Meduza an “undesirable organization.” In May 2025, the Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Meduza co-founder and publisher Galina Timchenko for “organizing the activities of an undesirable organization.”

The Insider and its investigative partner Bellingcat were declared “undesirable” in Russia in July 2022. Other media outlets that have received the designation include Novaya Gazeta Europe, The Moscow Times, and the independent channel TV Rain.

The designation is merely one form of pressure and persecution used by the Russian state against independent media — and any other voices it deems a threat. Others include criminal prosecution or even murder.

Journalists at The Insider persecuted for their work include investigative reporters Sergei Ezhov, Anastasia Mikhaylova, and Andrey Zayakin, as well as editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov, who was the subject of a foiled kidnapping and murder plot orchestrated by the FSB.