– The destruction of the media in Russia looks more and more like an act of war, says the Russian peace prize winner from 2021, Dmitry Muratov.
– It must be said, the destruction of Russian media is complete.
The newspaper Muratov founded and still is the editor-in-chief of, Novaya Gazeta, had to close on March 28 after Putin attacked Ukraine.
On Monday, Muratov was invited to the newly launched Freedom of Expression Conference World Expression Forum in Lillehammer, in which 250 representatives from human rights organizations, publishers and the press from over 50 countries participate.
– As banned as drugs
Due to the situation that has arisen after the attack on Ukraine, he had to attend the conference via a pre-recorded video and a telephone interview.
– Independent media is almost as banned as drugs, Muratov tells the audience via telephone line and interpreter.
– VIDEO SPEECH: Dmitry Muratov believes the destruction of Russian media is complete. Photo: Dmitry Muratov
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In the video post, Muratov says that Novaya Gazeta’s employees have stated that as many as 300 independent websites have been blocked by the prosecution’s office in Russia since the start of the war.
“That is 20 times more than the total number blocked during the entire history of Russian internet censorship,” Muratov said.
Media-holocaust
He says that since the end of February, since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, 260 sources have been added to the list of illegal resources, 58 anti-war sites have been blocked and 25 platforms raising funds to help Ukrainians have been blocked.
– The Ministry of Censorship or the Russian government has banned Western technology platforms. Even Instagram is blocked.
– I am seriously concerned about the fate of countless cats on instagram, he jokes.
– But to be serious, the Russian government’s next step is undoubtedly total and complete isolation of the Russian Internet from the rest of the world.
– The blocking of major social networks and websites and the persecution of journalists, including the use of street terrorism, is in fact already, excuse the expression, like a media holocaust, says Muratov.
Turn to VPN
He believes VPN, virtual private network, has now become the most important tool for people in Russia to read blocked websites and and media to get information.
– Virtual private network. Everyone knows what a VPN is. It is an opportunity to read the media illegally, says Muratov.
– Most people who read news over VPN do something illegal in a way.
“As a symbol of the murder of freedom of expression, we can see how FM 91.2, where the famous democratic radio station Ekho Moskyv broadcast for 30 years, was not only closed, but given to the state company RT, known in Europe as Russia Today,” says Muratov. .
– The radio frequency that used to be a symbol of free exchange of opinions, has now been swallowed up by the Kremlin and has continued to be destroyed by the Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus.
Extensive violence and threats
Muratov believes the authorities in Russia in recent years have given free rein to intimidate journalists, activists and politicians.
– April 16, 2019, my colleague Dmitry Bykov from Novaya Gazeta was poisoned. He ended up in a coma and his condition was critical, Muratov says.
– I KOMA: Dmitrij Bykov fra Novoya Gazeta blir fløyet til sykehus i Moskva. Photo: Dmitrij Muratov / Novaya Gazeta
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– I was with Bykov and saw how he was about to die from the same type of drug, and apparently committed by the same people who poisoned opposition politicians Aleksey Navalny a year later.
It was as far as they managed to save Bykov’s life.
Poisoned the editorial offices
– In the evening, a person in a protective suit, with his face covered, entered the building of Novaya Gazeta and sprayed it with a toxic substance, Muratov says.
– The entire building, including the others who rented office space there, was evacuated for a week. It was not possible to breathe there.
He believes the same kind of poison was used in the house of Novaya Gazeta and Ekho Moscow journalist Yulia Latynina.
– In the small house she lived with her elderly parents and her elderly neighbors.
– The same kind of liquid was used in her car before it was set on fire.
– BURNED OUT: The car of Novaya Gazeta journalist Yulia Latynina after it was set on fire. Photo: Novaya Gazeta
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– No one could find the perpetrators and Latynina was forced to leave the country
– Neither the police, the investigative committee nor the FSB have ever found or arrested anyone who hindered a journalist or hindered their work.
The attack with paint
On April 7 this year, the Peace Prize winner himself felt the threats on his body.
– It’s almost comical, April 7 I took the train from Moscow to Samara to spend two days with my mother.
– DEKKET AV MALING: Dmitrij Muratov etter malingsangrepet på toget. Photo: Dmitrij Muratov / Novaya Gazeta
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– In the carriage I was covered from head to toe in a nasty red paint with acetone. It caused a 40-minute delay on the train route and all passengers were moved to other carriages because the passenger compartment was damaged, Muratov says.
– The police could not find anyone. Seven weeks have passed without them finding anyone. Although every step you take at the train station, which is a high-risk area where extra care is taken, where there are surveillance cameras everywhere.
He says that the journalists in the newspaper managed to find the names and addresses of the attackers within 24 hours.
– The government avoids searching for these criminals in the same way as a cat chases its own tail and bites for it. But the cat will never hurt its tail.
Dare not answer
There is one question from the editor-in-chief of Danish Altinget.dk, Jakob Nielsen, Muratov will not answer.
– TELEPHONE INTERVIEW: The Nobel Prize winner from 2021, Dmitrij Muratov is interviewed during WEXFO 2022 in Lillehammer by editor-in-chief Jakob Nielsen in Danish Altinget.dk and the interpreter Aliaksandra Safonava. Photo: Harald Bjørnson Jacobsen / Nyhetene, TV 2
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– After the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has decided to ban two Russian networks, Russia Today and Sputnik in all EU countries. Do you support that decision, Mr Muratov, or do you think that the EU is doing exactly what they are criticizing Russia for doing?
– By answering this, Dmitry can be prosecuted for criminal acts. If we want him to answer more questions, we have to ask about something else, the interpreter Aliaksandra Safonava says that Muratov answers.
– Ok, I think this is a very telling answer in itself. I apologize for putting you in trouble, that was not the purpose of this interview, Jakob Nielsen answers.
Novaya Gazeta journalists work in exile
– It is now a European version of Novaya Gazeta, made by some of the Russian journalists in exile. Can you tell us what the purpose of this site is?
“Under Russian law, they can in no way be linked to Novaya Gazeta in Europe,” Muratov said.
– It is the colleagues of the Novaya Gazeta journalists who work in the European version of Novaya Gazeta. But they are not connected in any other way.
Auctions away the Nobel Gold Medal
In his post, Dmitry Muratov asks himself how to do something when you feel completely helpless and without the opportunity to make a difference. He says that those in Novaya Gazeta have decided that there is a way.
– You have to help those who are feeling even worse. For example, the refugees, says Muratov.
– In Novaya Gazeta, we have decided to put the Nobel Prize medal in gold, which was given to us in 2021, up for auction.
– AUCTION AWAY: Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2021. Now Muratov’s medal will be auctioned off as income for Ukrainian refugee children. Photo: Odd Andersen / AFP
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The auction house Heritage has said they will not charge a fee to carry out the auction.
According to Muratov, UNICEF has agreed to accept the money to support Ukrainian refugee children.
– People have had their past destroyed. We try to do something to ensure that their future is not ruined. So that they can have a future.
He hopes that as many as possible will support the fundraising campaign, not only by buying the medal, but also by putting out their own relics for sale.
– We want to see a “flashmob” of human solidarity.
Suggests Global Journalist Fund
To facilitate the fight for freedom of expression, Muratov believes that a global journalists’ fund must be set up to support journalists who have to flee their country.
– It must be non-state and must be structured as a gift / scholarship for the universities.
He clearly has the name of the fund.
– It can be named after Anna Politkovskaya who gave her life for freedom of speech. (She was killed on Putin’s birthday, October 7, 2006)
Call for exile colleagues
Dmitry Muratov now urges all his journalist colleagues who have traveled from closed media in Russia and who are now looking for work or trying to restart their publications in a foreign country to continue reporting.
To conclude, I would like to quote the fantastic director Fassbender.
“What is impossible to change, you must at least describe.”
– It must be documented so that the war will not be repeated in the future, the peace prize winner concludes.
– Provided, of course, that the future still exists.
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