Russia / Europe & Central Asia

Journalists will be central targets of the extensive surveillance program introduced by Russian authorities in Sochi in connection with the 2014 Winter Olympic Games that begin February 7.

CPJ report looks at restrictions on news coverage in run-up to Winter Games New York, January 28, 2014–Obstruction by Russian authorities and journalists’ self-censorship in a repressive climate have restricted news coverage of sensitive issues related to the Sochi Winter Olympics, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in a report released today.

Upcoming report looks at restrictions on news coverage in run-up to Winter Games New York, January 16, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists will release a special report on press freedom conditions leading up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

New York, January 14, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that veteran U.S. journalist David Satter has been banned from Russia for five years. Satter, adviser to the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and former Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, told CPJ that the Russian foreign ministry told him to leave…

The conflict in Syria, a spike in Iraqi bloodshed, and political violence in Egypt accounted for the high number of journalists killed on the job in 2013. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

New York, December 20, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s conviction by Moscow’s Lyublinsky court of Russian businessman Pavel Sopot for inciting the 2000 murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Igor Domnikov. The court sentenced Sopot to a seven-year term in a high-security prison, and ordered him to pay the journalist’s widow 1 million rubles…

New York, November 26, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s conviction and sentencing of Russian opposition blogger Sergei Reznik to 18 months in prison in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. CPJ urges Russian authorities to scrap the verdict on appeal.

New York, November 18, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to join the many voices around the world demanding justice for murdered journalists and remembering the fallen on November 23, International Day to End Impunity. As Russia finalizes preparations for hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and looks to its upcoming tenure on the U.N. Human Rights Council, this is the ideal time for Moscow to affirm its commitment to tackling impunity, CPJ said. Read the full letter.

New York, October 31, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a decision by the Moscow City Court today to revoke the license of independent online news agency Rosbalt and urges Russian authorities to overturn the ruling on appeal.

On September 18, 2013, British freelance journalist and former videographer for The Times of London Kieron Bryan, 29, was detained along with Russian freelance photographer Denis Sinyakov and 28 Greenpeace activists and ship crew members off the north coast of Russia. Bryan was covering a Greenpeace demonstration in protest of oil mining in the Arctic,…