Civil society and Media
Supporters fear for Oleg Sentsov’s life as his health condition is deteriorating.
I never lost the spirit, says the civil rights defender. This weekend, he was released after more than a year in jail.
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.
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.
Siste/ mest lest
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.
Longread
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.
What is it like to represent sexual and gender minorities in the Land of the Sámi?
Why do officials continue to praise people-to-people cooperation when in practice they are punishing our team-work, Russian and Norwegian youth ask after eco-group Aetas now is declared foreign agent.
The criminal case against Dmitriev is politically motivated and aimed at stopping the activist from commemorating victims of Stalinist repressions, human rights organization Memorial says.
Initiators pinned to the wall of the dilapidated downtown building a plate devoted to Ignatii Bessonov, a man murdered by Stalin’s NKVD in 1938. That was not well perceived by the regional Cultural Heritage authority.
Russia’s Foreign Agent law has forced many NGOs to close down, but this exception from the north inspires others to stand up for their rights.
Ecological organization in Arkhangelsk shuts down its activities. Wrongdoings? Cooperated with a youth environmental group in Norway.
A string of lawsuits has looming consequences for regional news agency Sever Post. Local authorities are behind it all, says agency leader Dmitry Vysotsky.
Georgy Chentemirov published a note about an unnamed military commissioner who had been caught in bribery. That had consequences for the young editor of Karelian news site Respublika.
FSB allows Russian journalists to bring cameras, but Norwegians would only be allowed to bring pen and paper.
The renown artist wins prestigious prize from the Fine Arts Academy of Finland.