The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the immediate release of Veronika Orlova, a journalist with the independent Russian media outlet SOTAvision, who was sentenced to 13 days of administrative detention after filming emergency services responding to an anti-government protest in Moscow.
Orlova was arrested on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, near Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, where she had been documenting the aftermath of a dramatic protest. The demonstration involved activist Grigory Saksonov, who was detained after jumping into the Moscow River holding a sign that read “Putin–Hitler.” Authorities charged Orlova with “disobeying a police officer,” a claim she denies. Both her legal representatives and SOTAvision confirm she had no affiliation with the protest and was simply covering the public scene as a journalist.
“Detaining a journalist for simply filming in a public space is a blatant violation of press freedom,” stated Anna Brakha, CPJ’s Senior Researcher for Europe and Central Asia, in an official release on May 10, 2025. “Russian authorities must stop targeting journalists for doing their jobs.”
Orlova’s arrest is part of an escalating pattern of media suppression in Russia. Two of her colleagues, Artyom Krieger and Antonina Favorskaya, are already serving 5.5-year prison sentences on extremism charges widely believed to be linked to their reporting.
The broader crackdown on dissent in Russia has intensified ahead of the 2025 political cycle. In recent weeks:
- Major General Ivan Popov, who publicly criticized military operations in Ukraine, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of larceny and forgery—charges he denies, alleging political retribution.
- Daria Kozyreva, a 19-year-old activist, received a nearly three-year prison sentence for quoting Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in protest of the war—an act that Amnesty International labeled “a chilling reminder” of the regime’s repression of peaceful expression.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Russian Federation has reported that over 2,000 political prisoners remain in custody, many enduring life-threatening conditions, especially those with health complications.
In its May 2025 statement, CPJ urged the international community to hold the Russian government accountable for its growing assault on press freedom and to advocate not just for Orlova’s release but for broader protections for journalists and civil society actors in Russia.
📚 References:
- Jurist (May 2025): Reporting by Kareem Assaf, Nottingham Law School
- CPJ Statement (May 10, 2025): Committee to Protect Journalists official release
- Amnesty International Press Release (April 2025) on Daria Kozyreva case
- UN Special Rapporteur data on political prisoners in Russia
