Russia Outlaws The Moscow Times as ‘Undesirable’ Organization – The Moscow Times

Editors’ Note

The Moscow Times was founded in 1992 in Russia with the mission of delivering independent, high-quality news about the country, newly emerged from the Soviet Union, to English speakers.

For over 30 years, we have stayed true to this mission, expanding with a Russian-language service in January 2022.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and the subsequent passage of repressive wartime censorship laws — forced our newsroom into exile. 

The labeling of The Moscow Times as “undesirable” is the latest of many efforts to suppress our reporting on the truth in Russia and its war in Ukraine, including blocking our website and naming us a “foreign agent.”

We join a long list of high-quality independent media that have also been named “undesirable,” including Meduza, Dozhd, Novaya Gazeta Europe, The Insider, IStories, Proekt, Doxa and more.

This designation will make it even more difficult for us to do our jobs, putting reporters and fixers inside Russia at risk of criminal prosecution and making sources even more hesitant to speak to us. 

We refuse to give in to this pressure. We refuse to be silenced.

We are counting on the support of all of you, our readers, to help us continue our work and defy the Kremlin.

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