After the closure of international versions of the Russia Today channel ordered on Tuesday by the European Union and then by the United Kingdom as well as, above all, the adoption this Friday of an anti-“fake news” law allowing the Kremlin to tighten the he grip on its control of information, the foreign media present in Russia and Ukraine are on the alert. Torn between the desire to continue to inform and the desire to protect their teams, in particular their local recruits who feel more fragile.
This Friday afternoon, the BBC chose to “temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists” on Russian territory. BBC News in Russian will continue from outside Russia. Its Russian news site, already very popular, had seen its audience more than triple over one year, to 10.7 million on average weekly. The Bloomberg agency later also suspended the work of its journalists in Russia. And CNN has decided to stop broadcasting on Russian territory. Other foreign media could follow.
Coverage of the Ukrainian conflict itself presents immense security and logistical challenges (team travel, premises, etc.) but which international media such as AFP, France 24, RFI, the American AP and other BBCs know well for have covered other conflicts.
Their leaders explain that they only send journalists, photographers or experienced technicians and have no trouble recruiting. “There are always plenty of volunteers to cover conflicts, their backpacks are ready,” said a media executive. Welcome reinforcement when Ukrainian personnel had to leave their posts to shelter their families or to defend their country, explains a leader.
Previous Deutsche Welle
However, the situation is more ambiguous in Moscow and Russia, which is not a theater of war, and where these media have dozens of people. First, the German Deutsche Welle (DW) was forced to close its office in Moscow on February 4 by the Russian Foreign Ministry, a measure taken in retaliation for the cessation of the activities of the Russian state media RT in German. DW had to hand over to the Russian authorities the accreditations of the 19 employees (journalists, cameramen, technicians) who worked at its Moscow office.
The editorial staff of similar foreign media, such as France 24, expect reprisals. Even if “with regard to the distribution of our media in Russia, it is not subject to restrictions to date either in broadcast (France 24 in French and in English), or in digital (all our offers including RFI in Russian)” said this Friday France Media World, which oversees France 24 television and RFI radio.
But above all, the law adopted by the Duma provides for heavy prison sentences and fines for anyone publishing “false information” according to the regime. Up to 15 years in prison in the case of “serious consequences” for the Russian armed forces. If the Kremlin needs foreign media to relay its messages, this law is a threat to them.
Exfiltrations
For the moment, the media rather fear expulsions for their expatriate employees, and some are preparing for it just in case. Local recruits are afraid of being directly targeted by the regime, explains a source. As a result, the directions are studying the exit routes, by plane or train, in particular by checking details such as which countries accept Sputnik vaccines against Covid or the visas granted by the host country.
Precisely what types of fake news are targeted are studied: those written in Russian only, those written by foreign or Russian media, etc. ? But the editorial staff are well aware that they will not be protected by the details of the legislative text if the Kremlin decides otherwise.
In any case, whether in Ukraine or in Russia, the foreign media, like the Russian media targeted by the government, seek at all costs to continue to inform. In particular, within international associations such as the DG8 bringing together public media from eight countries including France and the United States, they help each other.
” A disaster “
No one wants to close their field office, especially in Moscow. This has happened extremely rarely in history, even in Syria or under the Taliban. “It would be a disaster,” says a source.
The BBC has brought out its long-wave system traveling very far to allow Kiev and parts of Russia to receive the World Service four hours a day so that “the truth does not fall victim to war”, says Tim Davie, boss of the BBC.
On the France Médias Monde side, the home page of the RFI site in Russian now gives access to the live stream of Ukrainian Radio – UR-1, a public radio station. RFI România increased its broadcasting in Russian in Moldova to 13 hours a day, compared to 2 hours previously. France 24 is received in French and English by 29 million households in Russia and has an audience of one million people per week, not counting online audiences.