Three journalists working for independent Russian media, arrested last night in Moscow on the sidelines of a concert celebrating the second anniversary of the claimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions, have been released, one of their employers announced Tuesday.
Two reporters from the independent media SOTAvision and a journalist from the Republic news site “were released four hours after their arrest,” SOTAvision said on Telegram on Tuesday.
Arrested while they were “collecting” reactions from spectators leaving this concert organized on the famous Red Square of the Russian capital, all three were fined 500 rubles (around 5 euros) for “foul language ( held) in a public place,” said SOTAvision. This media is one of the last to document political repressions in Russia.
The Russian authorities have increased their pressure on independent and foreign media present in the country, in a context of all-out repression of dissident voices since the large-scale attack against Ukraine launched in February 2022.
The Kremlin on Monday marked the second anniversary of Russia’s claimed annexation of four regions in southern and eastern Ukraine, territory that Russian forces do not, however, fully control.
On September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees on the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Republic and SOTAvision media are classified as “foreign agents” by the Russian authorities. This label, used in Russia against critical voices, imposes heavy administrative obligations, under penalty of criminal sanctions.
