On Tuesday, Russian authorities banned one of the last remaining independent news outlets Dozhd, aka TV Rain, and Ekho Moskvy, aka Echo of Moscow.
On Wednesday, TV Rain's editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko announced that he was leaving the country, together with his family and the network's staff.
“After the blocking of Dozhd's website, Dozhd's social media accounts, and the threat against some employees, it is obvious that the personal safety of some of us is at risk,” Dzyadko wrote on Telegram.
TV Rain's staff had predicted their lives would be in danger.
“We are facing a real threat. It's getting harder to work here,” said TV Rain's anchor Ekaterina Kotrikadze.
“They are trying to make us, you know, deliver the same message as they do, but you know it's impossible for us to work like this.”
Russian media outlets were ordered to use official sources when covering the Ukraine invasion. They were also told to call it a “special military operation,” and prohibited from using the terms “war” or “invasion.”
Dzyadko said “they don't want us to spread real information about deaths among civilians, about deaths among Russian soldiers.”
