Russia In The Time Of Coronavirus, Part VI
The more things change, the more things stay the same. Like, for example, the ongoing destruction of independent media and free discourse in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
In many ways, the creeping destruction of the respected independent business daily Vedomosti looks familiar. We have, after all, seen this movie before. We’ve seen it with NTV early in Putin’s rule. We’ve seen it with once-venerable outlets like Izvestia and Kommersant. And we’ve seen holdouts like Ekho Moskvy and DozhdTV squeezed and pressured.
Listen to the Power Vertical Podcast as Brian Whitmore, Maria Snegovaya, and Donald N. Jensen discuss the tale of Vedomosti amid the pandemic, a moment when independent and reliable information is even more essential than ever.
Intro Audio Clip: “Message from the President to the Federal Assembly” via the Kremlin under CC BY 4.0.
Photo: By Elijah O’Donnell on Unsplash.
WP Post Author
Brian Whitmore is Director of the Russia Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis. Before joining CEPA he was Senior Russia Analyst at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He also worked as a foreign correspondent for The Boston Globe in Moscow and Prague; as a graduate instructor in the Department of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina; and as a visiting lecturer in the History Faculty at Mechnikov National University in Odessa, Ukraine and the International Relations Faculty at St. Petersburg State University.
April 24, 2020
The Power Vertical is a CEPA podcast covering the Kremlin for Kremlin watchers. All opinions are those of the guests and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis.
