The European Union strongly condemns Thursday’s decision by the Russian authorities to designate the independent media outlet Meduza as an “undesirable organisation”.

 This is yet another serious politically motivated attack on media freedom in Russia. It shows that it is not enough for the Russian authorities to spread manipulated information on Russia’s war against Ukraine, but they also want to prevent independent media from providing Russian audiences any access to factual information about the war.

Together with the decision taken by the Moscow City Property Department to terminate the rental agreements of the Sakharov Centre’s premises, its marks a dark day for the Russian civil society and a new low point in the Kremlin’s bulldozing of rights and freedoms of the Russian citizens. Its aggression against Ukraine is accompanied with continued and increasing oppression of the Russian population at home.

We urge the Russian authorities to repeal the current legislation on the so-called “undesirable organisations” and “foreign agents”, which severely restricts the freedoms of association and opinion, in order to bring Russian legislation in line with Russia’s international obligations.

The European Union stands by the Russian independent media, civil society and human rights defenders who, despite the deepening crackdown in Russia, continue to defend the human rights there and oppose authoritarianism and war.