Civil society and Media
A guidebook for journalists issued by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in connection with the upcoming Football World Cup is a «completely russophobic document», ministry press spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says.
The Federal Security Service is afraid of free journalism, says Thomas Nilsen as he today lost his appeal case in the highest court of Russia. He will now proceed to the European Court of Human Rights.
Eyes on Barents
The Ukrainian film director, who serves a 20-year sentence in the remote Russian Arctic town of Labytnangi, demands the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.
Regional prosecutors regain momentum in the case against the Karelian human rights defender.
Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor threatens the world’s leading technology and social media services.
Communication and technology regulator Roskomnadzor has started to block access to Telegram for about ten million Russians.
Barents Media Freedom 2017
"Working as a journalist in the borderland to Russia has always been refreshingly thrilling. But never easy. And over the last years, it has become outright difficult." This report from the Barents Observer gives a picture of ruling media trends and developments in the Barents Region.
Supporters fear for Oleg Sentsov’s life as his health condition is deteriorating.
The historian and civil rights defender is acquitted on allegations of child pornography.
Reporters Without Borders warns against oppression of journalists and attacks on independent media.
As climate change brings increased international attention to the Arctic, Indigenous filmmakers across the circumpolar countries will have a new resource to help them tell their own stories.
I never lost the spirit, says the civil rights defender. This weekend, he was released after more than a year in jail.
Siste/ mest lest
It gives us a new solid partner and enables us to reach out to bigger audiences in Norway, says Editor Thomas Nilsen as the newspaper signs a cooperation deal with one of the biggest media houses in the country.
Guilty on all points, says the regional prosecutor after a court hearing this week.
Legislators introduce a new set of restrictions against so-called foreign agent media. And the Foreign Ministry calls on the international community to stand up against western democracies and their «total attack on social media»
There are no signs of pornography in the pictures confiscated by police in the civil rights defender’s apartment, a new expert evaluation concludes.
Ten residents of Sosnogorsk, Komi Republic, held a picket, demanding better life in the region and protesting against the latest decisions of the Komi head Sergey Gaplikov. They joined the week of protest, initiated by the Save Pechora environmental group.
The solitary picket of Tatiana Ivanova in front of the regional government building lasted only 15 minutes.
Watch out, foreign agents soon coming to a newspaper near you
Russia violated Novaya Gazeta and its journalist Yelena Milashina’s right of freedom of expression.
Looking for a copy of the New York Times or Die Welt for sale in Moscow? Then you should hurry, by January 1st, distribution can be banned.
The Petrozavodsk City Court turns down plea for new forensic experts and better arrest conditions for the head of civil rights society Memorial in Karelia.
Finland’s state broadcaster YLE is additional to Barents Observer the only provider of Russian language news in the Nordic countries.
After massive media-coverage in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko says denying the Norwegian journalists «was due to a technical problem.»
Civil rights organization Memorial presents its updated fifth edition of the database, which contains the names of political prisoners and forced settlers executed during the Soviet period.
Twitter gets 24 hours to remove the account of democracy and human rights group Open Russia.
Activists might no longer be allowed into the downtown park which previously was used for demonstrations.
Our state media is suppressed abroad, the Russian government says. A retaliatory response is in the pipeline.
"There is systematic spreading of disinformation about the Sámi that threaten our freedom of speech", says the former editor of YLE Sápmi.
Marking the annual Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression, the official Karelia strove not to mention the name of Yury Dmitriev, one of the pioneers in locating and investigating such sites of mass burial.
Report about how Russian agents operate triggers «Fake News» stamp by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
These people do not make it to the cocktail receptions of regional officials, neither into the meeting agenda of government ministers or priority points of Barents action programs. Civil society is in danger of being sidelined in regional cross-border cooperation.
Court ruling says the group failed to voluntarily register as foreign agent.
Eleven months after he was given an entry ban to Russia, Nilsen’s case against the security service ends up on the table of a judge in the Russian capital.
Journalist Øystein Bogen and cameraman Aage Aune are being told that they pose a threat to Russia’s national security.
Oleg Sentsov made his films on the sunny lands of Crimea. This month, he was sent to a strict regime prison in Labytnangi in the Russian far north.