Collection

Arctida is an independent Russian non-profit organization focused on issues affecting the Russian Arctic. It was founded in 2022 by Ilya Shumanov, the former head of Transparency International Russia. Arctida publishes investigations, analysis, and research on environmental problems in the region, climate change, Indigenous rights, and the role of the state and major corporations in Arctic development. In its work, the organization examines climate change, corruption, and Indigenous rights as interconnected issues, and reports on the lack of transparency in decision-making processes across the region.In July 2025, Arctida’s website was blocked at the request of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office. In February 2026, Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated the project an “undesirable organization.” Following the decision, the team announced that it would continue operating outside Russia but would end cooperation with individuals and organizations inside the country for security reasons.

“Asians of Russia” is a decolonial media and activist project focused on the culture, rights, and political agency of Indigenous Asian peoples in Russia. The project began in 2017 as an Instagram account covering life in Russia’s national republics, racism and xenophobia, discrimination against people from Asian regions of Russia, and the Russian state’s colonial policies. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the project expanded its work and became actively involved in anti-war initiatives. Founder of the project — Vasily (Batlay) Matenov. The project helps people evacuate from Russia, builds mutual aid communities for people in exile, and works on educational and civic initiatives. “Asians of Russia” also maintains its own database of political persecution cases involving Indigenous Asian peoples in Russia and produces the video podcast “Stoyanka,” dedicated to decolonization, self-determination, language preservation, identity, local history, and social change. As a media platform, the project publishes materials on decolonization, Indigenous rights, national identity, languages, culture, migration, civic activism, and political participation. Its publications include an analysis of the connection between Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the country’s colonial policies; a piece on the Tofalar people based on 19th-century historical documentsу; an investigation into gold mining in Tuva by a Swedish company and its support for Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine; and a story about the experiences of non-white queer people in Russia and the intersection of racism, homophobia, and discrimination in contemporary Russian society. Bibliography Asians of Russia. (n.d.). About the project. Asian of Russia. https://www.asiansofrussia.com/about Asians of Russia. (n.d.). Asians of Russia [Telegram channel]. Telegram. https://t.me/asiansofrussia Asians of Russia. (n.d.). Asians of Russia [Instagram profile]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/asiansofrussia/

ASTRA is an independent media outlet founded in the first days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The publication covers the war, political repression, the Russian military, and life in occupied territories through news reporting, investigations, and eyewitness accounts.The outlet was founded by journalist Anastasia Chumakova. In spring 2022, ASTRA and Meduza published an investigation into the rape of Ukrainian women by Russian soldiers in the Kyiv region. This was followed by an investigation into the Mariupol Drama Theater bombing and a series of reports on illegal prisons for Russian soldiers who refused to take part in combat.ASTRA regularly publishes photo and video material from occupied territories of Ukraine and from sites where Russian military refusers are being detained. Its reporting has been cited by The Washington Post, CNN, The Guardian, Le Monde, and other international media outlets. According to the media monitoring project The True Story, ASTRA ranked second among independent Russian-language media outlets by citations in 2025.

“Avtozak LIVE” is a human rights and media project focused on political persecution, criminal cases against political prisoners, protests, and the work of Russia’s security services. Founded in 2021 by Maksim Kondratyev, the project focused on supporting people facing politically motivated prosecution while also covering administrative and criminal cases connected to civic activism and anti-war protests.The project provided legal and informational support to defendants in cases related to anti-war actions, arson attacks on military enlistment offices, sabotage charges, and other accusations that many human rights groups considered too sensitive or difficult for public support. “Avtozak LIVE” helped find lawyers, raise funds, publicize cases, and support political prisoners and their families. Alongside its human rights work, the project published news reports, courtroom coverage, interviews, and analytical pieces on prison conditions, pressure on lawyers and rights defenders, censorship, mobilization, anti-war resistance, and the use of repressive legislation in Russia.

Bereg is an independent cooperative of journalists founded after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The outlet publishes reported features, interviews, investigations, analysis, and retrospective pieces on the war, political repression, censorship, life in Russia’s regions, and the social changes that have reshaped the country since 2022.Bereg’s coverage includes the aftermath of drone attacks, the militarization of schools and public space, the expansion of military infrastructure, everyday life during wartime, emigration, and pressure on independent media and civil society. The outlet reports from the ground, including coverage from Tuapse and other Russian cities affected by the consequences of the war and changes to urban life.Bereg publishes interviews with human rights advocates, lawyers, researchers, public figures, and other subject-matter experts, as well as explainers and practical guides on current issues — including flight cancellations caused by drone attacks, digital security, and protection from scams. Alongside its written reporting, Bereg produces documentary films and podcasts in collaboration with the Berlin-based studio Narra. Their joint projects include films about Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Tamara Morshchakova, the Strugatsky brothers, Igor Kon, and Nikita Mikhalkov, as well as the documentary project Abramovich Collection. In 2025, the cooperative also released the documentary podcast Eat an Orange.The outlet also collaborates on investigations and joint publications with independent media and human rights projects, including Meduza, OVD-Info, Glasnaya, and other initiatives. Bereg’s materials are published under a Creative Commons Attribution license and are available for free non-commercial redistribution with attribution.

“Chelyabinsk Urbanist” was an independent project focused on urbanism, public spaces, public transportation, city planning, and local governance in Chelyabinsk. It was founded in 2017 by civil engineer and blogger Lev Vladov. The project started as a VKontakte community and later evolved into a local media outlet, activist platform, and architectural bureau.The project not only covered problems related to architecture, transportation, urban infrastructure, and public space in Chelyabinsk, but also worked directly on improving the city itself. The team created digital services and maps, engaged in tactical urbanism, and carried out its own urban improvement projects — from restoring municipal facilities to initiatives focused on public transport and street safety.Over time, the project expanded beyond urban issues and began covering local politics and municipal spending. Among its best-known projects were an investigation into public funding for the Traktor hockey club, the restoration of a municipal chess school, and a platform for independent candidates running in Chelyabinsk local elections.After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Lev Vladov publicly opposed the war. In 2022, the project’s website and VKontakte community were blocked after publishing anti-war materials and the statement “Chelyabinsk Residents Against War,” and Vladov left Russia. After that, “Chelyabinsk Urbanist” stopped operating as a media project about urban issues in Chelyabinsk. Vladov now runs social media blogs and works on “Takt,” a calendar of anti-war initiatives.

Demagog is an independent online magazine about culture founded in 2020. The publication covers literature, film, theater, philosophy, music, memory politics, and contemporary intellectual life, treating culture as a way of understanding reality outside state and ideological frameworks. The magazine’s editor-in-chief is Fedya Otroshchenko. The team also includes podcast editor Dyusha Luntse, designer Sonya Khananashvili, and an anonymous social media editor.Over the past few years, Demagog has grown from a small youth intellectual magazine into a broader community of writers, critics, researchers, and artists working on themes of war, exile, social change, and the breakdown of cultural ties.Alongside essays and criticism, Demagog publishes podcasts, special projects, and fiction, and also organizes offline events and festivals supporting independent Russian-language culture in exile. The magazine combines coverage of widely discussed topics with pieces on less visible, marginal, or overlooked subjects. The team emphasizes the project’s autonomy and sees the magazine as an open platform for different viewpoints, which do not always reflect the position of the publication.

Evening Moscow was a Moscow-based magazine about urban culture and leisure published from March 1997 to September 1998. The project was conceived as a Russian counterpart to city magazines such as Time Out and positioned itself as a two-week guide to events in Moscow. The magazine was published by the American media manager Andrew Paulson, with Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper serving as editor-in-chief. The magazine covered film, music, theater, books, restaurants, and everyday life in Moscow. Svetlana Kesoyan ran the restaurant section, Maxim Semelyak wrote about music, Mikhail Fishman and Sergey Kuznetsov covered film, Alexander Delfin wrote book reviews, Anton Krasovsky covered theater, and Elizaveta Plavinskaya wrote about exhibitions and museums. Evening Moscow also published features on fashion and city life, as well as interviews with directors, musicians, and artists including Renata Litvinova, Igor Krutoy, Rodion Shchedrin, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. A total of 20 issues of the magazine were published. The RIMA collection includes the first nine issues, edited by Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper. Materials prepared for the unpublished 21st issue were later released in a special issue of Pegas Light, published by Russian Journal. After the 1998 financial crisis, Bank of Moscow, which financed the project, withdrew its support for the magazine. Following a conflict between Andrew Paulson and the bank’s management, the editor-in-chief and 58 out of 60 staff members left the publication. In 1999, the team launched Afisha, continuing many of the editorial ideas first developed in Evening Moscow.

InLiberty is an educational project, media platform, and public forum focused on the history of ideas, social institutions, culture, politics, and social change. Founded in 2007, it grew into a space that brought together researchers, journalists, educators, students, and public intellectuals. The project was led by Andrey Kurilkin, with Anna Krasinskaya serving as Executive Director and Ilya Veniavkin overseeing its educational programs. The team also included educational programs producer Margarita Googe, editorial assistant Anna Platonova, and designers Daria Yarzhambek and Yuri Ostromentsky. InLiberty explored how modern societies function, how institutions emerge and evolve, and how ideas about freedom, power, human rights, and civic participation take shape. The project published articles, interviews, essays, and translations on political philosophy, history, sociology, economics, and the humanities. Alongside its website, InLiberty developed a wide range of educational initiatives. The project published books, hosted public lectures and seminars, and organized summer schools, festivals, student research competitions, and public discussions. Its programs focused on history, memory, democracy, social institutions, technology, and the future of human society.

“Ne Norma” is an independent Russian research and media project focused on military propaganda and state indoctrination in educational institutions. The project examines how Russian schools, colleges, and other educational spaces are being used to normalize war, militarize everyday life, and promote state ideology among children and teenagers.The team monitors the education system, collects data on ideological pressure in schools, and publishes research and analysis on the militarization of education and changes in Russian state education policy. “Ne Norma” also supports journalists, researchers, human rights groups, and parents by providing data and source materials for reporting and research.The project created the Archive of Russian School Propaganda and Indoctrination — a digital archive documenting the militarization of education and the spread of state ideology in Russian schools and universities. The archive includes teaching guides, educational materials, visual propaganda, reports from school events, and other records documenting how the Russian education system has changed since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“No Future” is an independent DIY media outlet launched in 2018. The publication covers anarchists, antifascists, punks, left-wing activists, DIY culture, the independent music scene, emigration, and grassroots self-organization in Russia and beyond. The editor-in-chief is Anton Kravtsov.The project originally started as an irregular online zine publishing texts about social inequality, subcultures, and grassroots initiatives across Russia. After the start of the full-scale war, “No Future” shifted its focus more toward anti-war grassroots initiatives, repression, nationalism, xenophobia, emigration, and the lives of anarchist, antifascist, and left-wing communities. “No Future” publishes reports, interviews, columns, and personal stories about growing nationalist sentiment in Russia, abuse by security forces and officials, political prisoners, underground initiatives, the lives of left-wing emigrants, political activism, the punk scene, squats, local communities, and horizontal organizing.The project also hosts online and offline discussions, talks, and DIY camps for its audience and members of left-wing and antifascist organizations.The outlet operates without grants or sponsorship funding and is supported through reader donations and a small team of contributors and volunteers.

A large portion of the NTV news website's content has been preserved in the archive of NewsRu.com — an independent outlet launched in October 2002 by the editorial team of the NTV website. On RIMA, we have preserved only those materials not available on NewsRu.com: select technical pages (including profiles of NTV journalists), transcripts of reports, and a body of materials in which the editorial team itself documented the events of the NTV takeover — news notes, opinion pieces, collective letters, statements, and commentary.

«Okno» is an online media outlet publishing reported features, interviews, and analytical pieces about life in Russia’s regions. The project focuses on the domestic consequences of the war against Ukraine, political repression, the regional economy, infrastructure problems, pressure on local communities, and the situation of Russia’s national republics and Indigenous peoples. The editorial team consists of anonymous journalists. The outlet covers Karelia, Bashkortostan, Siberia, the Russian Far East, and northern regions of Russia. Its reporting relies on field interviews, regional sources, court documents, and testimonies from local residents. «Okno» combines coverage of current events with longer analytical and retrospective reporting. Its publications include a feature on a Kamchatka village where most men went to war; a report on restrictions on researchers’ access to archives of Soviet repression victims; an investigation into the beating of a married couple by police officers in Yaroslavl; and a longform piece about migrants being sent to fight against Ukraine under threat of deportation.

About the Source Parni Plus (Guys+) is a Russian-language LGBTQ+ media outlet and service platform launched in 2008. It started as a website about HIV and sexual health for gay men and over time became one of the leading Russian-language media covering queer life — rights, health, culture, and safety. The editor-in-chief is Evgeny Pisemsky; the team includes journalists Itil Tyomnaya, Vadim Vaganov, and Yaroslav Rasputin, and peer consultant Damir Musin. ParniPlus covers discrimination and repression against LGBTQ+ people, gender identity, relationships, and health. A particular focus is Russia's regions: how queer people live in small towns, how local communities and mutual aid work, and what happens to people outside Moscow and St. Petersburg. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the escalating crackdown on LGBTQ+ people, the outlet began writing more about safety, forced emigration, legal protection, and queer life in exile. Most of its audience, however, remains in Russia — and the newsroom keeps working for readers living under censorship. What sets ParniPlus apart is its combination of journalism and direct community support: alongside its website, the project runs YouTube and TikTok channels and offers peer counseling, psychological help, and online support groups. Its publications include reporting on the consequences of anti-LGBT legislation, stories of persecuted activists, features on queer life in emigration, and interviews with human rights defenders and researchers. Pressure on the project built up gradually: first informal requests to take down critical articles, then website blockings, "foreign agent" status, fines, the closure of the affiliated HIV-service organization Phoenix PLUS, and the team's emigration. All four of ParniPlus's staff journalists have also been added to the "foreign agents" registry. In April 2026, a court in Oryol Region, acting on a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice, declared ParniPlus an "extremist organization." The "evidence of extremism" cited in court included stories of queer people from the regions, articles about self-acceptance, and monitoring of discrimination. The new status is dangerous not only for the newsroom: for readers in Russia, even sharing an article, leaving a comment, or donating now carries risk. The editorial team says it will appeal the ruling and continue its work. Bibliography ParniPlus. (n.d.). About the project. ParniPlus. https://parniplus.com/about/ ParniPlus. (n.d.). Meet the ParniPlus team. ParniPlus. https://parniplus.com/lgbt-movement/parni-plus-znakomstvo/ OVD-Info. (n.d.). ParniPlus in Inoteka. OVD-Info Inoteka. https://inoteka.io/en/ino/guys-plus/boys

Sobesednik (Interlocutor) is a Russian socio-political newspaper founded in 1984 as a supplement to Komsomolskaya Pravda. In 1990, it became an independent weekly and for decades remained one of the few major print publications in Russia to combine a mass-market format with independent political journalism. The newspaper publishes investigations, features, interviews, opinion columns, and reporting on Russian politics, society, culture, and public life. Yury Pilipenko served as editor-in-chief from 1989 to 2022. In 2022, he was succeeded by investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin. The newspaper launched its website in 1999. Over the years, Sobesednik worked with prominent journalists, writers, and public intellectuals including Dmitry Bykov, Viktor Shenderovich, Lev Rubinstein, Irina Lukyanova, Andrei Vasilyev, Nikolai Fokht, Igor Martynov, and Elena Skvortsova./p> After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper continued publishing interviews with opposition politicians, human rights advocates, and public figures such as Viktor Shenderovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Andrei Makarevich, even after many of them had been labelled “foreign agents” by the Russian authorities. Sobesednik was known for securing high-profile exclusives. It was the first outlet to publish an interview with Eduard Limonov in 1996, excerpts from Darya Aslamova’s Notes of a Naughty Girl, and an extensive interview with dissident Vladimir Bukovsky recorded immediately after the failed August 1991 coup. The newspaper also obtained one of the first interviews with former KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky after his defection to the West and published an account by his wife of the events surrounding his escape. It later tracked down and interviewed a former cellmate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky before other media outlets. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sobesednik released an anti-war issue and continued reporting on political repression, court cases, mobilization, and the consequences of the war. In 2023, it published an issue featuring portraits of Russian political prisoners on the cover. In 2024, Alexei Navalny appeared on the front page under the headline “They Persecute Navalny Because They Fear Him”; the entire print run was reportedly removed from sale in Moscow. The newspaper published courtroom reporting, investigations, and critical reporting on Russia’s political elite. Its stories repeatedly triggered legal challenges. Rosneft successfully sued over an article about a luxury resort allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin. Yevgeny Prigozhin filed a 10-million-ruble lawsuit over a publication discussing his criminal record and biography. Correctional Colony No. 2 in Nizhny Novgorod sued the newspaper over an article on prison labor conditions that featured Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina.After its publisher was designated a “foreign agent” in September 2024, the print edition of Sobesednik ceased publication. Roskomnadzor later revoked the newspaper’s media registration and initiated the liquidation of its legal entity. In 2025, Freedom Letters published That Very Sobesednik, a book about the newspaper’s experience during the first two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On April 9, 2026, Oleg Roldugin was detained during searches of the Novaya Gazeta newsroom that lasted nearly 13 hours. The following day, he was placed in pre-trial detention on charges related to the unlawful use of personal data. On June 2, 2026, a court transferred him to house arrest. Bibliography Azatutyun. (2014, January 8). Editor-in-chief of Sobesednik: "Yanukovych should not be given asylum." Azatutyun.am. https://rus.azatutyun.am/a/25280436.html Wikimedia. (n.d.). Sobesednik (newspaper). Wikipedia. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Собеседник_(газета) Filatov, A. (2026, January 31). "Problems started in the first days of the war": How the newspaper Sobesednik continued to operate in Russia after 2022. Current Time. https://www.currenttime.tv/a/gazeta-sobesednik/33661569.html SMI.ru. (2002, April 15). Sobesednik. SMI.ru [archived]. https://rima.media/document/2002-04-15-smi-266785-sobesednik

Syg.ma is a media platform created and sustained by its community of writers and readers. Founded in 2014, it serves as an open publishing platform for researchers, artists, translators, independent publishers, cultural institutions, and self-organized collectives. Anyone can publish on the platform by creating an account and uploading a text through the built-in editor. New submissions undergo editorial review. Registration also allows users to follow topics, collections, and authors, participate in discussions, and contribute to the community that has formed around the platform. The team includes Syg.ma founder Furkat Palvan-Zade — a researcher, curator, and publisher — as well as three editors, two developers, and an editorial manager. Contributors to the platform include political theorist Ilya Budraitskis, philosopher Oksana Timofeeva, internet researcher Polina Kolozaridi, poet Galina Rymbu, and art historian Boris Klyushnikov, along with independent institutions and projects such as the Smena Center for Contemporary Culture, Hyle Press, and the journal Lacanalia. Syg.ma has no strict editorial line or fixed thematic requirements. The platform publishes work on philosophy, art, society, politics, psychology, technology, and a wide range of other cultural and humanities-related subjects. It grows through the participation of its contributors and readers and aims to provide a space for the free exchange of knowledge, experience, and ideas. The project also includes an international edition of the platform, an online radio station, a small publishing imprint, content and design studios, and a range of editorial special projects. Syg.ma is funded through donations, grants, and partnerships. Over the years, the team has organized open calls for contributors, educational initiatives, and projects supporting independent cultural and civic communities. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Syg.ma has continued its work while supporting anti-war grassroots initiatives. Bibliography Bauer, E. (2024, March 29). Online platform syg.ma: "We aim to build networks of solidarity across national borders" [Interview with K. Koryagin]. Novinki. https://novinki.de/онлайн-платформа-syg-ma-мы-стремимся-пост/ Palvanzade, F. (2014, November 7). "It is more interesting to do something new and strange": Furkat Palvanzade on legal education, media, and the Syg.ma project [Interview]. Teorii i Praktiki / W-O-S. http://soccard.w-o-s.ru/post/10 Syg.ma team. (2014, November 4). Answers to frequently asked questions. Syg.ma. https://syg.ma/@sygma/otviety-na-chasto-zadavaiemyie-voprosy

Transparency International Russia in Exile” is an independent anti-corruption organization continuing the work of the former Russian chapter of the global Transparency International movement after its forced closure in Russia. The group investigates corruption, analyzes illicit financial networks, monitors abuses of power, and examines the links between corruption, authoritarianism, and militarization.The Russian legal entity “Transparency International Russia” was dissolved in 2023 after the international Transparency International movement was designated an “undesirable organization” by the Russian authorities. Although the Russian chapter operated as a separate legal entity under Russian law, the growing pressure on independent civil society and the enforcement of the “undesirable organizations” legislation made its continued work inside the country impossible.Following the closure, the team resumed its work from abroad under the name “Transparency International Russia in Exile.” The organization remains part of the global Transparency International movement, which brings together more than 100 independent organizations worldwide.Today, “Transparency International Russia in Exile” publishes investigations, research, and analysis on corruption, opaque governance, sanctions evasion, illicit financial flows, and the consequences of Russia’s increasingly authoritarian policies. The organization also works on OSINT investigations, fact-checking, and monitoring abuses by state institutions.The organization is led by Alena Vandysheva. Its team also includes Dirty Money project lead Vladislav Netyaev, OSINT investigator Kristine Bagdasaryan, analyst and fact-checker Natalia Korotonozhkina, editor Grigory Slobodzyan, and Natalia Mukhina, who leads monitoring, evaluation, and fundraising, alongside other members of the Transparency team.

About the Source Verstka is a Russian outlet that started up on April 26, 2022, soon after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The team specializes in investigations, exclusive news, political analysis, and reporting: it covers the war and its fallout inside Russia, corruption, political repression, censorship and ways around it, and the situation facing LGBTQ+ people and other socially significant topics. Verstka was founded and is published by journalist and feminist Lola Tagaeva, formerly head of the news department at the TV channel Dozhd. The team also includes journalist Ivan Zhadaev, special correspondent Anna Ryzhkova, journalists Olesya Gerasimenko, Yulia Selikhova, Ekaterina Krasotkina, and Daria Poryadina, head of distribution Marianna Lushnikova, designer-illustrator Dmitry Osinnikov, and others. The outlet has a staff of about 25 people alongside several freelancers, some of whom work anonymously inside Russia. Verstka's work includes special project "The Resetters," a database of more than a hundred Russian soldiers implicated in killing and torturing their own fellow servicemen at the front; "'Bring a Friend,' or How Russians Earn Money by Sending Each Other to War," which won a Redkollegia Prize and made the 36-nominee shortlist for the True Story Award 2026 in the Research category; "Russia's Golden Censor," on the family of Roskomnadzor chief Andrei Lipov, found to own property worth more than 600 million rubles; a joint investigation with Important Stories into a network of pimps selling sex with minors; and many other stories. On June 14, 2022, Roskomnadzor blocked Verstka's website; on December 22, 2023, Russia's Ministry of Justice added it to its "foreign agents" register. In July 2025, Oleg Deripaska filed a defamation suit against Verstka and Important Stories journalists after their joint investigation named him among the network's clients; in 2025, Russia's Investigative Committee also opened a criminal case against the author of a Verstka investigation into sanctions evasion. Verstka continues operating as a media outlet covering Russia from exile. Bibliography Wikimedia. (n.d.). Verstka (outlet). Wikipedia. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Вёрстка_(издание) OVD-Info. (n.d.). Online outlet Verstka Media [Inoteka]. OVD-Info Inoteka. https://inoteka.io/ino/internet-izdanie-vyorstka-media Novaya Gazeta. Europe. (2022, June 14). Verstka's website was blocked one and a half months after launch. Novaya Gazeta. Europe. https://rima.media/document/02v7yAQiVovlDdMuuOV7NO-2022-06-14-novaya-eu-798567-sait-internet-izdaniia-viorstka-zablokirovali-cherez-poltora Meduza. (2022, July 12). After February 24, the Kremlin finally crushed independent media in Russia. But new ones are appearing in their place. Meduza. https://rima.media/document/02v7yqulrM5v3tBQSb6k3M-2022-07-12-meduza-690503-posle-24-fevralia-kreml-okonchatel-no-razgromil-nezavisimye Zhadaev, I. (n.d.). "Verstka" is a foreign agent! What's next? Verstka [Telegram channel]. Telegram. https://t.me/svobodnieslova/3619 Colta. (2023, June 19). Lola Tagaeva: "The newsroom has in some ways become a substitute for the community people have lost" [Interview]. Colta. https://rima.media/document/02v80pmhqDwnrk0pFpTgy5-2023-06-19-colta-353822-lola-tagaeva-redaktsiia-v-kakoi-to-stepeni-stala-zameniat

Zhukovskiye Vesti is an independent weekly newspaper and online outlet based in Zhukovsky, a science city in Moscow Region and one of Russia's major aviation hubs. Founded in 1991 with support from the local administration, the newspaper became independent in 2000 after its editorial team bought it out. The outlet is led by editor-in-chief Natalia Znamenskaya and managing editor Ela Znamenskaya, her daughter. It focuses on local reporting, covering city government, municipal budgets, public procurement, housing and utilities, urban development, and conflicts affecting local residents. Among Zhukovskiye Vesti's best-known stories are its coverage of the 2012 protests against the destruction of Tsagovsky Forest; investigations into corruption in the city's housing and utilities sector; reporting on defrauded homebuyers from the Beryozovaya Roshcha housing development, who set up a tent camp at the construction site and unsuccessfully appealed to President Vladimir Putin for help; publications about alleged vote-trading in the city council; and the outlet's anti-war columns and livestreams. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper published several anti-war opinion pieces. Following the introduction of Russia's "fake news" laws, it stopped covering the war in its print edition and on its website, and previously published articles on the subject were removed from the online archive. Discussions of the war and broader political developments moved to YouTube livestreams. The outlet's anti-war stance prompted complaints from some readers. Its Instagram account was blocked, and Roskomnadzor launched an inspection over a front-page headline that read, "They Tell Us This Is Not a War." In 2023, Ela Znamenskaya was charged under Russia's law on the "discreditation" of the armed forces over one of the YouTube livestreams and fined 30,000 rubles. In 2024, Russia's Interior Ministry added her to its wanted list. Since the mid-2010s, Zhukovskiye Vesti has relied primarily on subscriptions and reader donations. Since 2018, the newsroom has regularly raised funds to support the print edition. Since January 2024, Zhukovskiye Vesti suspended its print edition for the first time since its founding in 1991, citing censorship pressures. The outlet continues to publish news and articles online. Bibliography Znamenskaya, E. (n.d.). "Citizens are calling for blood": How Zhukovsky residents pressure the city's only independent outlet opposing the war. Za Slova. https://za-slova.press/zhukovskiye_vesti Mediazona. (2023, March 23). "A war veteran" and "not the last person in town" against journalists: How Zhukovskiye Vesti operates under wartime censorship. Mediazona. https://zona.media/article/2023/03/23/zhukvesti