Russia has declared Bellingcat, an organisation with no presence inside Russia, a foreign agent under Russian law. Given the ridiculous and potentially dangerous nature of such an act by the Russian state we'll be challenging the designation in Russian courts and the ECHR.
https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1483036829381234694
This is part of the Russian state's attempt to shut down free speech and any reporting that puts the government in a negative light, and has impacted many Russian organisations that we'll also be working to support.
It is now almost certain Bellingcat's Russian language site (ru.bellingcat.com) will be blocked inside Russia, but will we continue to publish stories about Russia, in Russian, irregardless of what labels the Russian state puts on us and our work.
I'd also note that there's a reasonable (and possibly inevitable) risk that we'll be labelled an undesirable organisation in Russia which would impact those who associate with us, even if they aren't based in Russia or are involved in Russia in anyway whatsoever.
Given the risks this could pose to organisations and individuals who work with Bellingcat we will be taking the fight against foreign agent status as far as we reasonably can given our resources.
If you want to support the work of Bellingcat and our fight against censorship you can donate here bellingcat.com/donate
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
