Russian authorities have revoked the citizenship of investigative journalist Roman Anin, citing his 2025 conviction for spreading so-called “fake” news about the Russian military. This marks the first known case of a Russian journalist being stripped of their citizenship for their reporting on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The move is a direct attack on press freedom and a clear attempt to silence critical voices. The Interior Ministry cited Article 22 of Russia’s Citizenship Law, which allows authorities to strip citizenship if a person provides “knowingly false information” about their intent to follow the Constitution and Russian law. Anin, the co-founder and publisher of the exiled outlet IStories, was sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in prison in March on charges of publishing “fake” reports about the Russian military “motivated by political hatred.” Born in Moldova, Anin acquired Russian citizenship in 2006. He left Russia in 2021 after being declared a “foreign agent” and facing FSB searches over his past reporting on the alleged secret yacht of Rosneft chief Igor Sechin's then-wife. The Justice Ministry added IStories' Latvian-based legal entity to its list of “undesirable” organizations in March 2022, banning IStories from operating inside Russia. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the outlawing of “discrediting” and spreading “deliberately false” information about the military. A law allowing the authorities to revoke acquired Russian citizenship for convictions related to these charges came into force in October 2023. The first known case under the law involved Krasnodar resident Alexander Somryakov, who was stripped of his citizenship in 2024 after being sentenced to six years in prison for a post about the massacre of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine. Moscow denies its forces committed atrocities in Bucha in the early weeks of its full-scale invasion and claims the scenes were staged by Ukraine and its Western allies. The Moscow Times faces unprecedented challenges as the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has designated it as an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing its work and putting its staff at risk of prosecution. These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim The Moscow Times' work “discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership.” The journalists of The Moscow Times refuse to be silenced and need your support to continue their work.
