New Kremlin legislation makes it almost illegal to access independent media. This includes outlets in exile such as Meduza, which have been designated as “foreign agents“ and “undesirable organizations.” At the same time, international funding for independent journalism is shrinking, and U.S. financial support has disappeared. How can Russian independent media survive under these conditions?
Conversation with Galina Timchenko and Ivan Kolpakov, co-founders of Meduza, CEO and editor-in-chief respectively. Meduza is one of the most important independent media outlets outside of Russia, about Russia, and for Russia, published in Russian and in English.
WATCH THE RECORDING HERE
Speakers
Galina Timchenko is an award-winning Russian journalist, CEO and co-founder of Meduza, a Latvia-based news outlet founded in 2014. Prior to establishing Meduza, Timchenko was editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru, one of the most influential Moscow-based online media outlets in Russia. In 2014 she was fired: the owner was dissatisfied with the coverage of Ukraine. Most journalists resigned from Lenta.ru, in solidarity with Timchenko and joined her in Riga, where she founded Meduza.
In April 2021, the Russian authorities designated Meduza as a “foreign agent”, and weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2022, the government began blocking Meduza’s website. In January 2023, the Kremlin banned Meduza, declaring the outlet an illegal “undesirable organization”.
In 2023, Galina’s phone was hacked with spyware Pegasus while she was in Germany. According to investigators, the attack could have come from Russia or a European Union state.
In 2025, Russian federal investigators launched a criminal case against Galina Timchenko, on charges of organizing the activities of a designated “undesirable organization. Galina Timchenko is based in Riga.
Ivan Kolpakov is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Meduza. He started working as a journalist in 2001 in Perm where he contributed to local political and business newspapers. In 2010, he launched his own project, Salt, a political and satirical magazine. In 2012, Ivan moved to Moscow and became the head of the special reporter’s department at Lenta.ru, Russia’s most popular online publication at the time. He left Lenta.ru with the rest of the team following the firing of its editor-in-chief Galina Timchenko. Together with Timchenko he founded Meduza, which has been called Russia’s free press in exile. In the eyes of many Russian readers, Meduza has become one of the most popular and reliable media outlets available in Russian. Ivan Kolpakov is based in Berlin.
Moderator: Mirjana Tomic, fjum/Presseclub Concordia
Format: Conversation followed by Q&A
Target audience: Media and academic representatives, thinktank analysts, foundations
Additional information: [email protected]
Registration deadline: Monday, 15 September 2025, 20 CEST
Zoom link will be sent one day before the event.