On 8 November 2023, Russian independent media outlet Vecherniye Vedomosti received an official warning from a prosecutor in Yekaterinburg, where the media outlet is based, for alleged “extremist activity”, as well as disseminating publications which authorities claim are “extremist”. A scanned copy of the prosecutor’s decision containing the warning was published in Vecherniye Vedomosti’s Telegram channel.
According to the media outlet, the prosecutor’s official warning is a potential basis for a decision on withdrawing its registration in Russia.
In his decision, prosecutor Dmitry Mitkin claimed that the Vecherniye Vedomosti “incited hatred towards representatives of the state” as well disseminated what authorities claim is “false information”. In his decision, the prosecutor also mentioned fines for “discrediting” the Russian armed forces which were previously imposed on Vecherniye Vedomosti. Additionally, the outlet was accused of disseminating “extremist publications”, in the decision personally handed to its journalists by Mitkin.
“When delivering the warning, the prosecutor was unable to explain the connection between the fines under the article for discrediting [the Russian army] and the extremist activities that he observed in [our] outlet’s publications,” Vecherniye Vedomosti wrote on Telegram. The outlet added: “Mitkin referred to an alleged judicial practice, which in the case of penalties under the article on discreditation [of the army] ‘indicates the existence of an extremist orientation’. This connection was not reflected in the warning itself.”
In October, Vecherniye Vedomosti’s editor-in-chief said that when put together, the fines against the media outlet for allegedly “discrediting” the Russian army now totaled exactly one million rubles.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, reporting on the war based on sources other than the Russian government is forbidden in Russia. Media outlets which do not comply with new legislation face heavy fines, closure, and internet access blocks. Journalists who violate laws on war-related “fake news” and “discreditation” of the Russian army face fines and prison terms.