Russia's Invasion of Ukraine -How Putin Silenced the Media
One year on from the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, it has become more and more difficult to accurately report on what's happening in Russia.
According to the 20th World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters without Borders in 2022.
Russia placed 155th as Putin's propaganda war wages on, ranking lower than Libya and Sudan.
The scene had been set for many years with Putin introducing a series of measures restricting what the press can report on.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, laws were introduced that clamped down on the free press.
However they were vague and seemed quite arbitrary at the time. It was hard to know whether you were vulnerable until they started being applied to people.
As a result, most Western journalists were immediately evacuated from Russian bureaus out of fear of harassment and difficulties if they continued to report on the war.
The New York Times, Bloomberg News and the BBC were among the outlets that pulled reporters out of the country.
Jake Rudintsky at Bloomberg News was evacuated out of Moscow within weeks of Putin's invasion.
He was moved to the Dubai bureau for a few months before being permanently relocated to Berlin.
He said: ''The story is not really about us.''
''Everyone had difficulty in adapting to their new life because they felt the rug was pulled out from under them but we had a salary, a job and a company that was taking care of us when we left Russia.''
''The same cannot be said for Russians journalists.''
'The story is not really about us'
Jake Rudintsky, Reporter at Bloomberg News
Francis Scarr from BBC Monitoring along with the rest of his team were asked to move back to the UK as a precautionary measure.
However, he said: ''They're [Russian State] aren't so concerned with what the likes of the BBC, CNN or Sky are telling foreign audiences because they see that as a battle they've already lost.''
Western outlets have historically been routinely harassed but are not necessarily the target of these ‘fake news’ laws.
Most of the state's energy went towards the suppression of Russian outlets
On March 4 2022, the Russian Parliament adopted new legislation to criminalise for the spread of ‘false’ information, referred to as the ‘March 2022 Amendment’s’. This follows a long campaign by the Kremlin to restrict criticism of his regime by organisations out of his control.
Francis speaking about the double standards in how Western reporters are treated compared to Russian reporters
Francis speaking about the BBC's decision to pull reporters out of Russia
* names changed for safety reasons
*Sofia works for ‘The Republic’ remotely in Lithuania, another publication deemed a ‘foreign agent’ post-invasion. She was told to leave urgently by her editor-in-chief last month after efforts intensified against the outlet to discourage them from reporting on the war.
She said her work has become substantially more difficult as people have become more afraid to speak openly with the press.
*Mikail works for RBC in Russia and also left Russia after the war started. His brother works for channel TV Dozhd, regarded as controversial by the Russian government, and he felt like his whole family could be threatened as a result.
The assault on the free press in the wake of invasion is only the latest in a series of laws passed during the last decade...
‘Works becomes more difficult because people are increasingly afraid to speak openly with the press’
Mikail talking about what it was like to work in Russia post-invasion (voice altered)
Putin introduces the 'Foreign Agent Law' which requires anyone who receives support from outside Russia or is 'under the influence' from outside Russia to register and declare themselves as foreign agents. They can incur large fines if they fail to do so
Russia passes the 'Gay propaganda law' intending to prevent exposing children to homosexuality and protecting 'traditional family values'. It prohibited the distribution of 'propaganda' of homosexual relationships among minors
President Vladimir Putin gave prosecutors the power to extrajudicially declare foreign and international organisations ‘undesirable’ in Russia and shut them down. This was expanded in mid-2022 to include anyone who is ‘under foreign influence’, a change that critics say will make it even easier for the state to target its domestic critics.
More and more journalists added to the 'foreign agents' list including TV Dohzd, BBC Russian Services and Meduza
Russia introduced the March 2022 Amendments criminalising the spread of false information
The act approved by the Duma says those who spread information “with the artificial creation of evidence of the accusation … based on political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity” can receive a 10-year jail sentence, or up to 15 years if their actions cause “grave consequences.”
In the absence of critical outlets, the Kremlin has largely had free reign to report the war in the way that’s most flattering to them.
The Kremlin then went on to completely block access to various social media outlets in retaliation for the platforms placing restrictions on state-owned media.
Russia banned Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for 'extremist activities'.
They also blocked access to Twitter.
Russians are banned from posting new information and material on TikTok after the 'fake news' law was passed at the beginning of the invasion.
Why does that matter?
85 percent of Russians watch television for news about Russia and the world, according to a poll conducted by the Levada Center in 2018.
It is more difficult than ever to find alternatives to Russian state TV which strictly follows the Kremlin's narrative as to how the war is going
Francis Scarr at BBC Monitoring said at the beginning of the war that state TV journalists were initially banned from framing the conflict as a ‘war’. TV anchors were confident and made bold assertions that the war was going to be over quickly.
Once things started going more poorly for the Russian army, it started to be framed as a ‘defensive war’ against the West. Putin began to frame Russia as the bastion of traditional values and religion and this is what they are trying to protect against the West.
Scarr said he was shocked by how much worse the discriminatory and offensive language got post-invasion.
''You wouldn't expect to see anything like that on TV in the UK.''
One way they are doing this is by weaponising homosexuality and saying this will be 'imposed' on Russians. This is a hot-button issue for the population with the gay propaganda law passed in 2013 which aimed to 'protect' children from being exposed to homosexuality.
A theme that emerged late last year in Russia was associating the West with Satan and using heavy religious imagery.
Francis said this was particularly strange as Russia is not a particularly religious country. Organised religion was suppressed under Soviet authorities and the non-religious still constitute more than a quarter of the population.
Scarr therefore concludes this is part of a wider culture war battle waged by the Kremlin for propaganda purposes.
'You wouldn’t expect to see anything like that on TV in the UK'
The Russian population's support for the war has remained consistently high over the past year, according to polling done by the Levada Center.
The sample comprised of 1631 people aged 18 or older across rural and urban areas of Russia.
Russian negative attitudes towards the EU have remained consistently high since the invasion , according to polling done by the Levada Center.
All hope is not lost...
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, almost all independent publications have been banned, blocked or declared subject to 'foreign influence'.
''The majority of Russian society has not stood up for independent media for many years,'' Sofia told me, ''I myself often think about whether Russian society needs us or not.''
When confronted with so much bad news, it's human nature to want to switch out.'
However she said: ''At the same time, the independent press remains one of the few institutions where people can turn and seek support.''
''I hope that soon I will go home and continue working there''
Kevin Rothrick, Managing Editor of the English-language Meduza site said even if true, this still doesn't mean there's millions of people who want to read and watch something different to the Kremlin's stance and that's who they'll keep writing for.
The majority of the Russian population no longer has the appetite for independent news?
Kevin Rothrick, Managing Editor of the English-language Meduza website
Mikail also still believes that all is not lost
The lack of protest about no independent media is not out of support for the Kremlin but because they are concerned with their own lives and as the Russian state has made it increasingly difficult to access independent press, most have stopped seeking it out.
He said: 'When confronted with so much bad news, it's human nature to want to switch out.'
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