Everyone is discussing the idiotic law under which foreigners will no longer be able to establish media outlets in Russia. The law is genuinely absurd—only legitimate media outlets (such as Vedomosti and Forbes) will suffer, while anyone who wants to find a workaround will do so with ease. If there is one thing Russia has perfected, it is nominee ownership schemes.
But I want to draw attention to the fact that, in practice, we already have a system in place that bans undesirable persons from establishing media outlets. It works through Roskomnadzor (Russia’s state media and communications regulator; more accurately, “Roskomcensorship”)—one of the most repulsive, lawless, and crooked state institutions around.
For example, they have imposed an individual ban on *me* establishing a media outlet. The need for our own outlet has been obvious for a long time: for ACF’s investigations, it is crucial that the press pick them up afterward and, performing its most important function, ask officials uncomfortable questions, demand explanations, and so on.
Unfortunately, the media landscape has been so thoroughly purged that only the safest kinds of journalism survive: rewriting wire reports and publishing opinion columns. It’s darkly funny, but despite the fact that the “fur vault” (a famous reference to alleged luxury excess in Russian corruption reporting) gets mentioned in every third article about Russia, how many journalists do you think directly asked Yakunin about his palace in Akulino? The correct answer is: zero.
Of course, there are excellent, meticulous journalists, and there are decent media outlets too, but there are very few of them, and ACF has already worn them out with our plaintive requests along the lines of, “Could you maybe ask this particular official about this?” There are some newsrooms we already feel awkward approaching.
So I decided to create the simplest possible media outlet, whose sole purpose would be to ask officials uncomfortable questions—questions they are legally required to answer under Russia’s media law. Of course, I understand that in 90% of cases they will ignore the law, but in 10% of cases we will get some kind of response.
Under the law, any citizen can establish a media outlet through a fairly simple procedure.
So I decided to create a media outlet in the form of a news agency with the simple, understated, and unpretentious name “Alexei Navalny News Agency.”
I submitted the documents on June 2, and a month later I was supposed to receive the registration certificate, because refusal is allowed only in clearly specified cases:
I am over eighteen, I do not hold foreign citizenship, and I am not (yet) in a place of detention.
Today is September 24. As you know, 3.5 months have passed, and my media outlet still has not been registered. The numerous letters from my lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, who represents my interests under a power of attorney and legal warrant, are being ignored. There was one brush-off response in which they demanded that I documentarily prove that I am allowed to establish a media outlet. In other words, prove that you are not in prison and that you live in Russia. There has been no reply to any of the subsequent letters.
Unofficially, they say: Registering a media outlet for Navalny is forbidden. Well, if it is forbidden, then here you go:
The full text of the complaint is here.
Let them come to court and publicly justify their position. They can also confirm that I am over 18 and that, although I am under escort, I am not in a place of detention.
We’ll see what comes of it.