Document #2056143
RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Author)
The Russian investigative news outlet The Project has announced the "liquidation" of its U.S.-registered company a day after being declared an "undesirable" organization by the Prosecutor-General's Office in Moscow.
The Project's editors wrote on Telegram on July 16 that their company registered in the United States "is in the stage of liquidation and has no financial relations with journalists working in Russia."
"However, we, as journalists, continue to believe that our work is important and necessary for our motherland. We will communicate later about how our journalistic team will continue its work. At this point, we can say the main thing -- the investigations will continue. Once again, thank you for your support. Journalism is not a crime," the statement said.
The move came hours after single-person protests were held in Siberia's largest city, Novosibirsk, to express support for The Project's staff members and other journalists who were added to the controversial registry of foreign agents a day earlier.
The "undesirable" organization law, adopted in May 2015 and since updated, was part of a series of regulations pushed by the Kremlin that squeezed many nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that received funding from foreign sources -- mainly from Europe and the United States.
In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RL's Russian Service on the "foreign agents" list, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services and Current Time. The Russian Service of VOA was also added to the list.
At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified again to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on the "foreign agent" list and to impose restrictions on them.
Copyright (c) 2010-2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.