Journalists of the Voice of America and Radio Liberty of the Russian Federation were added to the list of “foreign agents”

The Russian Ministry of Justice has placed a number of journalists on the list of “foreign agents,” including Voice of America journalist and anchor Ksenia Turkova and Irina Romaliyskaya, a journalist and anchor of the “Current Time” project, created in partnership between Radio Liberty and Voice of America.

Also added to the list are Samara activist Anton Rubin, BBC journalists Anastasia Lotareva and Andriy Kozenko, and a research fellow at the Carnegie Berlin Center, Alexandra Prokopenko.

The human rights project “Walk Through the Forest” has also been declared a “foreign agent” in Russia, the founder of the project, Grigory Sverdlin, already has the status of a «foreign agent».

Ksenia Turkova (appears in the decision under her previous surname – Kiriya) commented on her inclusion in the Register, saying that this news did not cause her “any special emotions, neither positive nor negative”.

“I consider it an absolutely ridiculous label, – she said. – How can a person who has not lived in Russia for 12 years and does not work in Russian media or any other Russian companies be a foreign agent and structures? This is simply absurd!”

An official statement was made by Voice of America director Michael Abramowitz, who said that Ksenia Turkova – journalist, and the Voice of America – a journalistic organization that, by law, provides a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news around the world.

“We support our journalists, who often face consequences as they perform this vital function for society, and we remain committed to ensuring that audiences have access to the vital information provided by Voice of America.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Russia ranks 162nd out of 180 in terms of media freedom and comfortable existence of the media. According to CPJ, 30 media workers are currently imprisoned.

Turkova, a philologist by training and host of a popular language blog, stressed that “like many other terms, the word “foreign agent” has become a victim of the linguistic “rape” that the Russian authorities are currently subjecting the language to.”

“For the authorities, it is a synonym for “traitor”, a synonym for “enemy of the people”, and for those whom the Russian authorities are targeting, it is generally an empty sound, a word that means nothing”, – she said Turkova.

Since 2017, she has lived in the USA, works in the Russian service of Voice of America and teaches Russian to bilingual children, runs a Telegram channel about politics and linguistics, the language of the media “Turkish Dictionary”.

Before working at the Russian service of Voice of America, Ksenia Turkova lived in Kyiv for 4 years, learned Ukrainian and worked in Ukrainian media, where she hosted programs first in Russian and later in Ukrainian.

As part of her work at Voice of America, she prepares some materials for the Ukrainian service in Ukrainian.

Previously, Ksenia shared with the Voice of America audience techniques that helped her quickly and effectively master the Ukrainian language.

On January 22, Ksenia will give a lecture in Washington, D.C., on the words of 2024, where she will, among other things, explain the meaning of the word “foreign agent”.