OCCRP is shutting down all work in Russia this week to help protect its journalists as the Kremlin cracks down on independent investigative reporting.
“At this point, our work there has the potential to do more harm than good for local journalists,” said OCCRP Publisher and Co-Founder Drew Sullivan. “This doesn’t mean we will stop reporting on the country’s ongoing endemic corruption. We just understand that the government will resort, as it always does, to punishing local Russians for working with us.”
In the past month, most of OCCRP’s Russian partners have been labeled “foreign agents” or “undesirable organizations,” legal designations that carry strict requirements making it impossible for media to operate or requiring an organization to shut down.
“We will continue to work on stories about Russia,” said Chief of Innovation and Co-Founder Paul Radu. “The Russian government is a major player that propagates corruption and disinformation regionally and globally and actively works to destabilize other countries. We will not ignore them.”
Russian journalists working for OCCRP were given the opportunity to resettle outside the country in advance of the shutdown. Those who did not want to move received severance pay and assistance in finding new jobs.
“We’re grateful to our phenomenal Russian employees who have helped make OCCRP a success,” said Radu. “They have helped inform the Russian people during a time when the Putin government has openly attacked the remaining independent media.”
For more information, contact Drew Sullivan at drew@occrp.org.
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The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is a nonprofit investigative reporting platform for 50+ independent media outlets around the world, publishing more than 100 investigations and stories a year. By developing and equipping a global network of investigative journalists and publishing their stories, OCCRP exposes crime and corruption so the public can hold power to account.