searches at Novaya Gazeta headquarters for “illegally using personal data”

At first, the only thing that the Russian media knew about the record produced in its offices is that the security services of the Kremlin They were checking their headquarters in the Russian capital, although they did not know more details.

Novaya Gazeta is one of the independent Russian media, whose headquarters changed after the start of the war in Ukraine, by moving its headquarters to Estonia, to ‘get around’ the censorship of Putin’s Government, especially after the start of the ‘Special Operation’ decreed by the Russian president.

In a statement published in Telegram Through the media itself, they have claimed not to know the reason for the operation and that their lawyers were not allowed to access the building.

According to the Russian news agency RIA Novostithis registration has occurred due to “misuse of personal data” by this Russian newspaper.

Detention of journalists

In any case, it is yet another episode in the attack on press freedom and journalistic practice by the Kremlin, with at least five journalists from Western media detained since the beginning of the war.

This same Thursday, the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) has reported the arrest of an independent journalist who collaborated with the American media Radio Free Europe, outlawed by Putin in 2024.

To justify his arrest, Moscow maintains that the reporter gave classified information to Ukraine, for which he has been accused of treason, an especially serious crime in the context of war, which can mean up to 20 years in prison.

Although they have not released the identity of the arrested journalist, the description matches that of the reporter Alexander AndreyevRussian citizen born in 1960.

The former collaborator of Radio Free Europe He was arrested in the Siberian city of Chita on April 1, according to a local newspaper. The investigation accuses him of having shared with a television channel Telegram Ukrainian “classified information” about a strategic facility in its region.

According to the authorities, the journalist’s alleged objective in sharing this private information to Ukraine is for this facility to be the target of cyber attacks.

In a video released this Thursday by the FSB The break-in of the Russian security forces into a modest apartment, owned by the reporter, whose face is blurred in the image, is shown.

The FSB has also shown his subsequent search and interrogation in the kitchen of the property, where his arrest took place. Andreyev had also worked for portals critical of the Kremlin, such as Kasparov y MBJ Media.