February 1, 2021— Russian journalists Elena Kostyuchenko and Valeria Savinova were among the dozens of journalists detained at the protests demanding the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the arrests of working journalists exercising their right to free speech. 

Elena Kostyuchenko works for the Novaya Gazeta, and Valeria Savinova is from MBH Media.

“The arrest and detention of … journalists is an attempt to intimidate and silence Russia’s independent media during a moment of national upheaval,” said Polina Sadovskaya, the Eurasia program director for PEN America, an NGO that works to promote free speech around the world. Polina continued her description of the recent events, analysing the state of press freedom across Russia:

“The fervor of these protests has clearly alarmed Russian authorities, and perhaps rightly so; the number of people taking to the streets, many who have never done so before, demonstrates that resistance to oppression is still alive and well in Russia. As the government attempts to silence Navalny and all those who call for change, authorities only succeed in reinforcing the power of those dissenting voices and the fragility of the state. Further, in attempting to intimidate and silence the press, Putin’s government exposes its own fear of those who report the truth. These absurd charges against Smirnov must be dropped immediately, and the Russian authorities must cease these crackdowns and demonstrate respect for freedom of the press and the public’s right to freedom of expression and assembly.”

Elena has been working as a journalist to expose injustice since a very young age. At the age of 16, she wrote in an article, “everything I knew about this country, about what was happening, was wrong.” She believes state-controlled media focuses on external events, using it as a distraction from local issues. 

The recent detention of journalists is amidst the protests demanding the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He was arrested upon his return to Russia after recovering from an assassination attempt of a deadly nerve agent. The opposition leader, according to Russian authorities, was arrested for not reporting to the police regularly.  He was supposed to do so in ordinance with his suspended sentence for embezzlement. 

CFWIJ is concerned about the mistreatment of journalists across Russia during this time of sociopolitical upheaval. We condemn the arbitrary arrests of Elena and Valeria and demand their immediate release.