Let's not separate

Why is the dictatorship burying Runet in the fifth year of the war?

The final assault on RuNet, launched by the authorities this year, is a consequence of the good work of independent media. In 2022, Russia saw the largest exodus of journalists in world history. Instead of giving up or finding arguments in favor of the fact that “not everything is so simple,” more than 60 Russian-language media were created in emigration - mostly very small, with several authors and editors.

A good topic for future historians: almost nothing can be published in the country, and yet everyone has access to any information if they want, and even officials regularly quote “undesirable media,” that is, they read and honor it. In the standard version, the media are needed to control the actions of the government and freely discuss public problems, but in the conditions of homespun and sluggish fascism, when almost no journalistic investigation leads to trials or resignations, the media retain other functions.

Firstly, this is the function of representation. Since there is not a single deputy in the Russian parliament who does not agree with Putin, and there are still people with similar unreliable views in the country, as even propaganda admits, independent media become a tool that creates and maintains a community of unrepresented people. We know that there are Russian citizens who have not sworn allegiance to the war, because we talk about them, they are visible to readers and viewers.

This symbolic representation should not be underestimated: sociologists like Benedict Anderson have argued that at the dawn of modern states, it was the mass media that became the point of construction of national consciousness.

We don’t know when the dictatorship in Russia will end, but we understand the value of a community of people who stand for a normal life without war and emergency situations.

The dictatorship also evaluates us. And after it failed to destroy the media in 2022, and then hundreds of issued “foreign agency statuses” and dozens of sentences in absentia against journalists did not help, she decided to take radical measures related to the destruction of the very environment where the exchange of information exists. The goal is clear: to control every bit of information that is sent within Russia.

Secondly, the media protects people's right to informed choice. Despite the weakness of our forces, the total audience of uncensored media in Russia is estimated at 20–30 million people, many of whom are active and qualified professionals. Over the course of four years, these people are forced to make decisions about how far adaptation to what is happening can go in their case and when the threat to their vital interests and the safety of their families becomes too obvious. Pragmatics here, as a rule, consists of a choice between internal and external emigration - refusal to participate in the construction of a “new society” or flight from it.

Meaningful information that influences people's choices and expectations about the future is disseminated instantly. Any useful information published even in small media is replicated by independent broadcasting platforms on YouTube and regularly goes beyond our loyal audience.

During Prigozhin’s rebellion, a significant part of the country followed the events through emigrant media. For example: just one video with Prigozhin’s statement collected 4.7 million views on Dozhd’s YouTube channel. The same is true of the weeks around February 24, 2022: the military censorship introduced in March of that year was the first attempt to prevent people from making informed choices, to invite them to form their views on the basis of “official information” (this is the plot of accusations of “fake news” - you need to “quote only MoD press releases”). High interest in independent media was recorded during the mobilization and during the imprisonment and murder of Alexei Navalny.

New atrocities prepared by the authorities against the neighboring country and their own citizens will take place with greater comfort, provided that they succeed in destroying our community and depriving them of the right to an informed choice.

The destruction of the last elements of the familiar digital landscape, threats of punishment for using VPNs will result in heavy losses for the everyday Russian economy, not related to oil exports and war. The desire to silence the mouths of numerous “foreign agents” will lead to the politicization of people who, until recently, believed that it was possible to exist with this political regime, choosing their private life as a priority. Millions of people in Russia will hate the dictatorship because it deprives them of everyday habits, digital entertainment and a way to earn money. But the dictatorship led by the deeply analogue Putin decided back in 2025 that ignorance, lack of information, is the goal that will justify everything.

It is no coincidence that advertising for VPN services has become one of the main sources of income for independent media. Since we want people to know what is happening in their country, our story will not end with attempts to bury the Runet. How did it not end in 2022, when journalists were faced with a choice between prison and exile.

Ahead is a difficult struggle with TSPU, “white lists” and those villains like the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, who deprive the homeland of information.