The IPI global network calls on Czech authorities to investigate the threats made against Russian exiled journalists Alesya Marokhovskaya and Irina Dolinina. Both journalists are currently based in Prague, where they work for the major independent Russian investigative news outlet iStories.
On Tuesday, September 19, iStories (known in Russian as “Vazhnye Istorii”, or Important Stories) reported that Marokhovskaya and Dolinina started receiving threats from unknown individuals earlier this year. On March 3, iStories received an anonymous email through its online contact form, which said: “the louses from street [name] and [name] should not sleep in peace! Send our regards to them!”. The names in question corresponded to the streets on which Marokhovksaya and Dolinina lived at the time in Prague, despite this information never having been made public, iStories reported.
On August 24, the media outlet received a new threat against Marokhovskaya. The text of the new message implied that its author was aware that the journalist had moved to a different address following the initial threats. The sender wrote: “We are going to find her elsewhere too. She has nowhere to hide and she will need to answer for all the lies and for all the evil.” The sender also mentioned a detail concerning Marokhovskaya’s dog, showing that they had been following the journalist during walks with her pet.
Most recently, on September 14, just as Marokhovskaya and Dolinina were planning to fly to Sweden for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, iStories received new threats through its contact form, again from the same email address as previously: “You know who to pass this on to: They should not go to Goteborg. Even for a day. They know where to look for them. Trust [us]”. On the next day, iStories received yet another message, urging the media outlet to take the previous threats “seriously”. The sender also showed they had access to Marokhovskaya’s and Dolinina’s travel plans by sharing their exact flight and hotel booking information for their trip to Sweden.
“The threats and apparent surveillance targeting iStories journalists in Prague must be immediately investigated by Czech law enforcement authorities”, said IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen. “IPI calls on the governments of Czechia and other European countries to ensure the safety of Russian exiled journalists who were forced to relocate to Europe following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the enactment of drastic censorship laws in Russia.”
He added: “Exiled Russian journalists in Europe continue to face many dangers despite having permanently left their home country in order to continue their work. We saw an alarming reminder of this earlier this week following revelations that the phone of Meduza CEO Galina Timchenko had been recently hacked with the use of Pegasus spyware. Prior to this, Meduza journalist Elena Kostyuchenko reported poisoning-related symptoms following a trip to Munich.”
A source in a European intelligence agency consulted by iStories speculated that the threats made against Marokhovskaya and Dolinina could have been organized by Russian secret services, in particular the Federal Security Service (FSB), operating directly or with the help of collaborators within European organized crime groups. However, no independent confirmation is available to back these claims.
In the first weeks following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, no fewer than 150 Russian independent journalists left their home country, with many more having likely left since. The mass exodus was mainly due to the enactment of strict wartime censorship, which banned reporting any information on Russia’s war in Ukraine other than that officially confirmed by the Russian government. While many Russian journalists initially chose visa-free destinations such as Georgia, Turkey or Kazakhstan, many eventually relocated to EU countries.
