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The Kyiv office of Russian state news agency RIA Novosti Ukraine was visited (May 15) by the Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU). The premises were searched, lasting about eight hours, and one or more employees were detained. SBU officers were looking into “a network of media companies controlled by the Russian Federation,” said spokesperson Olena Hitlianska, quoted by Kiev Post (May 15).
Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Zoryan Shkiriak said the raid was “aimed at protecting national interests and state security.” RIA Novosti Ukraine, he said, “is nothing but a propaganda service subordinate to the Kremlin and distributes fake news, manipulative information on events in Ukraine.” (See more about fake news here)
RAI Novosti Ukraine director Kirill Vyshinsky was arrested at his home before the raid on the company offices. The SBU alleges that Mr. Vyshinsky was “assigned” to “subversive activities in Ukraine,” reported Deutsche Welle (May 15). "The money came from the Russian Federation to Serbia and then to Kiev, distributing €53,000 monthly,” said SBU deputy Viktor Kosonenko. (See more about media in Ukraine here)
RAI Novosti Ukraine is a subsidiary of Russian state agency Rossiya Segodnya, formed in 2013 from news agency RAI Novosti and international radio broadcaster Voice of Russia. The Ukraine subsidiary kept the name. Rossiya Segodnya, English translation Russia Today, is not officially related to the RT television and online service, formerly known as Russia Today, or the Sputnik radio and news service but the mission and several officials are shared. (See more about media in Russia here)
RT is world-renowned for wild conspiracy theories. UK media regulator Ofcom has conducted several investigations of its operation, recently regarding the well-reported London poisoning case about which RT has out-done itself. Those investigations were recently closed with Ofcom explaining that it ascribed a different standard in “determining whether state-funded broadcasters were fit and proper to hold broadcast licenses, independently of their broadcasting record.”
At a press conference held last week by Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, journalists walked out. A reporter for national daily newspaper Bild, Michael Sauerbier, was told by AfD representatives they’d not respond to his questions, noted Deutsche Welle (May 8). All the reporters in the room stood up, literally and figuratively, and left.
In the days since, AfD representatives have gone out of their way to further offend working journalists. Parroting the script of well-known authoritarian politicians, the AfD in Erding (Bavaria) banned local reporters for daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) in a statement posted to their Facebook page (May 12). Earlier in the month the SZ reported residents of a small town “occupying” the hall to be used by an AfD politician and, in protest, showed him “red cards,” known to football fans as indicating penalty expulsion for rules infraction. (See more about press/media freedom here)
“We will not allow your practiced inflammatory denunciation and defamation to continue to blossom,” said the flowery prose of district AfD chairman Wolfgang Kellermann. “We are not available for any inquiries and interviews. This is especially true for comments after elections. For sure, the AfD will not show ads for the state election in your newspaper.“ (See more about media in Germany here)
“The AfD is once again having trouble with journalists,” wrote media news portal DWDL.de (May 14). Regional competitor to the SZ, Münchner Merkur, which tilts to the right, called the AfD statement “unbearable and unacceptable,” in a statement (May 14), inviting any SZ reporter to “visit any events… and report on them.” The publisher’s local edition, Erdinger Anzeiger (May 12), was blunt: “Because freedom of the press is not negotiable, we give the AfD a red card.”
Clamoring for internet access several hundred demonstrators gathered in Moscow this past weekend. There were speeches about internet freedom, specifically the blocking of messaging service Telegram, reported Reuters (May 13). It was not a rowdy event, some people tossed paper airplanes, Telegram’s logo. Security services “detained” about 20.
Last month a similar demonstration drew thousands. That was after a Moscow court ordered Telegram’s services blocked after the company refused to handover encryption keys to the Federal Security Service (FSB). The Russian Federation’s all-purpose regulator and censor Roskomnadzor pulled the plug. The unintended consequence (perhaps) was blocking IP addresses, reported variously between several million to several thousand, affecting user access to Google, Amazon, Digital Ocean and Microsoft cloud services, which cut off access to various news portals. (See more about media in Russia here)
Everything about the Telegram messaging service is controversial, starting with its founder Pavel Durov. It’s end-to-end encryption is quite popular in Russia and other places where security agencies like to peek at or listen to communications. The FSB said Telegram Messenger was being used by “terrorists.” An Iranian court affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard blocked Telegram at the end of April “to prevent users from accessing it with VPN or any other software,” wrote the semi-official news agency FARS, quoted by Reuters (April 30). Last summer Indonesia’s Communications Ministry blocked Telegram, citing “conflicts with Indonesian law,” but that decision was later reversed.
Great big Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba was also blocked in the latest move on the Telegram cloud in Russia. Just before demonstrators assembled in front of Roskomnadzor Moscow office this weekend the agency unblocked eight thousand IP addresses related to the Alibaba subnet. Roskomnadzor began unblocking other IP addresses, said Dutch NGO Global Voices (May 9), to undo damage to local commerce.
Telegram and its outspoken co-founder Pavel Durov have have long used the labyrinth of Russian courts; losing sometimes and winning sometimes. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) accepted for hearing an appeal by Telegram Messenger LLC review the decision of the Russian Supreme Court to fine the company about €10 thousand for failure to turn over the encryption keys, noted state news agency TASS (May 13). In February billionaire Roman Abramovich, known for a variety of investments including the Chelsea football club, invested USD300 million in Telegram Messenger.
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