‘Our kids miss their mom’: Husband of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva speaks out about her detention in Russia
Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the Tatar-Bashkir service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, has been in Russian detention since October 18, when authorities in the western city of Kazan charged her with failure to register herself as a foreign agent. If found guilty, Kurmasheva faces up to…
CPJ condemns Russia’s extended detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
New York, October 23, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Russian court’s decision on Monday to detain U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until December 5 on charges of failing to register herself as a foreign agent. In a closed-door hearing on Monday, a court in the western Russian city of Kazan ordered Kurmasheva, an editor…
Russian authorities detain RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
New York, October 18, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Wednesday’s detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in the western Russian city of Kazan and calls on Russian authorities to release her immediately. “CPJ is deeply concerned by the detention of U.S-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on spurious criminal charges and calls on Russian…
Ukrainian photojournalist Ihor Hudenko missing in Kharkiv since February
New York, May 10, 2022 – Anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of Ukrainian photojournalist and blogger Ihor Hudenko should come forward immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Hudenko lost contact with his friends and family while in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on February 26, according to the National Union of Journalists…
Russia-Ukraine watch
How the war is affecting press freedom in the region Updated June 16, 2022 Russia’s February 24 full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked a sharp escalation in threats to press freedom in the region and beyond. Journalists in Ukraine have been killed covering the war, while many of their Russian counterparts have fled or faced persecution….
Russian court in Crimea sentences RFE/RL journalist Vladislav Yesypenko to 6 years in prison
New York, February 17, 2022 – Russian authorities in Crimea should not contest journalist Vladislav Yesypenko’s appeal and should release him immediately and cease prosecuting members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Wednesday, February 16, a court in Simferopol, the capital of Russian-occupied Crimea, convicted Yesypenko, a…
Freelance journalist Andrey Kuznechyk detained in Belarus
Vilnius, Lithuania, November 29, 2021 — Belarusian authorities should immediately release journalist Andrey Kuznechyk and stop detaining independent journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On November 25, Kuznechyk, a freelance correspondent for Radio Svaboda, the Belarusian-language service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), returned to his home in Minsk, the…
Russian regulator announces fines for RFE/RL outlets under expanded ‘foreign agent’ law
New York, January 14, 2021 – Russian authorities should repeal the country’s foreign agents law to ensure that local and foreign news outlets can work freely, and in the meantime refrain from fining media organizations over alleged violations of the law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 12, Roskomnadzor, the country’s media…
Ukrainian investigative program ‘Schemes’ targeted with car burning, alleged surveillance
New York, August 17, 2020 – Ukrainian authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the torching of a car affiliated with the “Schemes” TV program and the alleged surveillance of one of the program’s journalists, and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 7, Mykhailo Tkach,…
Nazarbayev’s long rule leaves toxic legacy for Kazakhstan’s media
In 2011, I observed an astonishing spectacle in the Respublika newspaper offices in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial capital. Journalists were putting a modern-day twist on samizdat, a practice in the Soviet Union whereby dissidents laboriously copied illicit material to circumvent censorship.