On Thursday, Moscow authorities declared Meduza an “undesirable organization”, banning it from operating in Russia and banning any Russian citizen from cooperating with journalists from the independent news outlet, Reuters reported.

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia included the independent information publication Meduza in the list of “undesirable” organizations of the country. The sanction is aimed at forcing the organization to dissolve, and its employees and donors face significant prison terms, the Interfax news agency reported, citing Interfax. The Moscow Times.

This decision is part of the Kremlin’s multi-year campaign to restrict independent media and prevent their reporting from ordinary Russians.

In a statement about this decision, the Prosecutor General of Russia stated that the Latvian news publication “poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation.”

Meduza, one of Russia’s most widely read independent news sites, did not immediately respond, although it published a story on its website, including details of what the decision might mean.

“Unwanted organizations are prohibited from operating on the territory of Russia under the threat of prosecution,” reads the article, published in Russian and English.

Anyone who “participates or cooperates” with such groups could face prosecution – a particularly severe limitation for journalists who must communicate with sources to report the news,” Meduza writes.

What are the risks of those who cooperate with an “unsolicited organization”

Those who are prosecuted for cooperating with an undesirable organization can face heavy fines or even prison terms.

Those who financially support such organizations are also punished by imprisonment for up to five years.

In addition, sharing or linking to material published by an “undesirable organization” is a criminal offense and may lead to legal consequences, including the blocking of any media that refers to an “undesirable organization” in Russia.

Currently, more than 50 organizations are on the blacklist, including the Russian news agencies iStories and Proekt, as well as the Dutch Bellingcat.

Prigozhin requested that Meduza be included in the “undesirable” list

Last July, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner’s Russian private military group, publicly called for Medusa to be included in the list.

In a letter addressed to the Prosecutor General of Russia, Prigozhin criticized Meduza’s reporting on the war in Ukraine.

He said the articles, which claimed sources inside the Kremlin wanted to remove Putin from power and that a second attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was being planned, violated Russia’s strict censorship laws.

Shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian parliament passed a law that provides for up to five years in prison for “discrediting” the armed forces and up to 15 years for spreading “deliberately false information” about them.

Reaction of the opposition

Mediazon, another independent news site, announced Thursday that its editor Piotr Verzilov had been charged with spreading “falsehoods” about the Russian military based on political enmity.

After the laws were passed last March, Russian authorities quickly blocked access to dozens of websites, including Meduza, and dozens of Russian and international news agencies left the country.

Medusa has been based in Latvia since its founding in 2014. Adding her to the list of undesirables was condemned by opposition figures in social networks.

“The unwanted organization is a handful of people who seized power in Russia,” wrote Ruslan Shaveddinov, an associate of jailed opposition politician Oleksiy Navalny, on Twitter.

Medusa, founded in Riga in 2014

One of the most popular independent Russian-language news sites, Meduza was founded in the capital of Latvia, Riga, in 2014 by a group of former employees of the Russian news site Lenta.ru.

All journalists have just quit en masse following the decision of Kremlin-connected billionaire Oleksandr Mamut, who owned Lenta.ru, to fire the publication’s editor-in-chief Halyna Tymchenko.

The legal status of “Meduza” in Russia has already become complicated after the Ministry of Justice of Russia recognized it as a “foreign agent” in April 2021. (Photo source: Dreamstime.com)

Read here the most important information from 337th day of the war in Ukraine