Russian Journalists Flee After Home Raids
On March 5, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Center for Combating Extremism and the OMON special riot police raided the offices of Pskovskaya Guberniya, an independent newspaper based out of the Pskov region. On March 18, chief editor Denis Kamalyagin, and journalists Viktor Agafonov and Svetlana Prokopyeva had their homes raided by law enforcement, prompting them to leave the country out of fear for their lives.
During the March 5 raid, the police seized computers and journalists’ phones, forcing the paper to suspend operations because of its inability to work without technical equipment. he raid was conducted in response to an anonymous tip that led the police to the headquarters of the opposition party Yabloko, which shares an office building with the newspaper. The unnamed woman who left the tip named Kamalyagin as one of the party heads. Kamalyagin denied any affiliation with Yabloko.
The March 18 raids were conducted for a different purpose: in relation for a defamation case stemming from an anonymous Telegram post criticizing Pskov Governor Mikhail Vedernikov’s statements about Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Kamalyagin and Prokopyeva were identified as witnesses by authorities, who purportedly were trying to “find a reason” to search any and all independent journalists.
Defamation, which Russia defines as “knowing dissemination of false information hurting one's dignity and reputation,” was re-criminalized in Russia in 2012, and made punishable by “fines in an amount equal to approximately US$170,000 or by forced correctional labor for a period of up to 12 weeks.” Federal Law No. 141 applies the law across the country and it is broadly applied to silence political dissidents, journalists, and witnesses to corruption among Russian political officials.
Prokopyeva said that police “handcuffed her and threw her to the floor” during the search, as well as seizing a phone, tablet e-reader, modem, and her husband’s laptop. Kamalgyin’s parents’ home was also raided the same day.
Prokopyeva and Kamalgyin have left Russia and are in Riga, Latvia; two other journalists with the paper are planning on leaving the country shortly.
