On March 18 police raided the house of Denis Kamalyagin, editor-in-chief of the Pskovskaya gubernia (Pskov province) newspaper. His media outlet reported that he had left the country the day before the raid over fears of criminal prosecution and pressure. The raids were part of a larger string of searches by police in Pskov, which included a search on the house of Pskovskaya gubernia journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva. According to reports, the mass searches were carried out in a criminal case of libel (Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code) against the governor of the region, Mikhail Vedernikov. Kamalyagin was labelled a “foreign agent” by a court in December 2021 and he was detained alongside three colleagues on February 24. The work of Pskovskaya gubernia’s journalists remaining in Russia was suspended “for their own safety”. A court in Pskov earlier refused to register the media, claiming Kamalyagin was receiving significant foreign financing. He appealed this decision, arguing that Russian legislation did not forbid foreign financing of media, but his appeal was rejected in early March. Roskomnadzor also blocked access to Pskovskaya Gubernia’s website on 5 March.