On 16 August 2023, Politico Europe and Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer reported that Russian authorities refused to renew the visa of their correspondent, Eva Hartog. Dutch authorities gave the journalist six days to leave the country. Eva Hartog has been working in Russia for 10 years, writing for De Groene Amsterdammer before beginning to publish for Politico Europe.
Separately, on 15 August, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not renewed the accreditation of its Moscow correspondent, Anna-Lena Laurén, also a reporter for Finland’s Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL), who had worked in Russia for 16 years.
Russia tightened visa and accreditation rules for foreign correspondents after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with renewals required every three months, rather than once a year as previously. Both a visa and media accreditation are required for reporters to work legally in Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram that “given the harassment of Russian journalists and media outlets by the EU, which the Dutch government has joined, the non-extension of a visa for a citizen of the Netherlands should not raise any questions.” Zakharova added that in the opinion of Russian authorities, Hartog had not published frequently enough for De Groene Amsterdammer, citing only five publications throughout 2022.
Following the announcements, Hartog left Russia, saying she would continue to report on the country for Politico Europe. The outlet’s editor-in-chief Jamil Anderlini stated that Politico Europe was “extremely disappointed” that Hertog had been forced to leave Russia, adding that the publication retained an “unwavering commitment to covering the Russian government and its war in Ukraine.”
In the second case, Finnish journalist Laurén said that a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry told her by phone in early May that she would not get her new accreditation in time to renew her visa, which expired in mid-May. Laurén said she left Russia in late April, after publishing a profile of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which the Russian Embassy in Finland described as “fake news”. Laurén, who won Finland’s 2021 Grand Journalism Award for her reporting on Russia, continued to write about Russia, most recently about the rebellion of Prigozhin, who ordered his Wagner troops to march on Moscow in June.