Russia bans investigative outlet Bellingcat, branding it security threat

Russia on Friday banned investigative news outlet Bellingcat and its main local partner from operating inside the country, branding them security threats.

Netherlands-based Bellingcat exposed the Russian-backed soldiers behind the downing of Malaysian Airlines jet MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and unmasked FSB agents sent to poison Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in 2020.

Russia's Prosecutor General said the activities of Bellingcat and its partner The Insider "posed a threat to… the security of the Russian federation".

Both will be added to Russia's "undesirable" list, which bans them from operating in Russia and makes cooperating with them illegal for Russian organisations and individuals, he said in a statement.

Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins dismissed the ban, writing on Twitter: "Bellingcat has no legal, financial or staff presence [in Russia], so it's unclear how Russia expects to enforce this."

His outlet published a statement on its website in response to being added to the "undesirable" list.

"The only motivation listed in the Russian government’s decision was that Bellingcat, along with The Insider, 'posed a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation,'" Bellingcat said.

"We decry this absurd decision of the Russian authorities, and struggle to understand how an independent collective of two dozen open-source researchers may pose a threat to the foundations of the world’s largest country.

"It is apparent to us that this designation pursues the goal of discouraging Russian citizens from using and promoting Bellingcat's past and future investigations, and from intimidating other media with presence in Russia from cooperating with or even referencing our work."

The Insider is legally headquartered in Latvia, a move designed to protect it from Russian authorities.

Bellingcat has been declared an undesirable organisation in Russia, along with our partners The Insider. Bellingcat has no legal, financial or staff presence, so it's unclear how Russia expects to enforce this. https://t.co/8yW2ec0k8Y

— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) July 15, 2022

It has worked with Bellingcat on most of the organisation's high-profile investigations over the last five years, which also include identifying and tracking the movements of the men behind the 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Britain.

In a broad move to stamp out opposition and dissent, Russia has labelled dozens of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups as "undesirable", and hundreds of domestic groups and journalists that oppose the Kremlin have been named "foreign agents".

The crackdown has intensified since Russia brutally invaded Ukraine in February – a campaign the Kremlin refers to as a "special military operation" – with almost all independent groups outlawed or forced into exile, and new laws that make criticism of the armed forces punishable with up to 15 years in prison.

(Reuters, The New Arab)