Russia Criminalizes Use Of Word ‘War’ Forcing New York Times, Bloomberg, More Out

The New York Times announced on Tuesday morning that it would suspend its operations in Russia in response to a new law that criminalizes non-state, independent reporting.

"Russia’s new legislation seeks to criminalize independent, accurate news reporting about the war against Ukraine. For the safety and security of our editorial staff working in the region, we are moving them out of the country for now," said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the Times.

Ha clarified that the Times looks forward to returning staff to Russia “as soon as possible” as it monitors “the application of the new law.” Many major Western outlets have had to re-evaluate their procedures.

The Washington Post announced ‌it would remove author names and reporting locations for articles from Russia-based staff.

The BBC announced it would continue operations.

“We have decided to resume English-language reporting from Russia this evening [Tuesday 8 March], after it was temporarily suspended at the end of last week. The safety of our staff in Russia remains our No. 1 priority,” the outlet said.

Bloomberg announced on Friday that “we have with great regret decided to temporarily suspend our news gathering inside Russia. The change to the criminal code . . . makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country.”

On the same day, CNN announced that it would stop broadcasting in Russia, but would evaluate its next steps.

Many news organizations have issued statements and updated their policies to keep their reporters safe while in Russia and reporting on the invasion of and continued war in Ukraine, responding to the new law in Russia.

Russia argues that the law was totally justified. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated Saturday, according to The Wall Street Journal, that the law “was urgently needed in connection with the absolutely unprecedented information war that was unleashed against our country.”

Russia has been blocking social media in the country, especially Facebook, essentially cutting off Russia from news from the outside world. The White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration has expressed deep concern “about the threat on freedom of speech in the country [Russia],” according to CNN.