Two journalists, former colleagues of DW, were arrested in Russia. They are accused of participating in an extremist organization and collaborating with the Navalny network on YouTube. The news is already making the rounds of international media. THE Konstantin Gabovjournalist and former correspondent of DW in Moscow and Sergey Karelin, a cameraman and also a former DW contributor, were arrested over the weekend in Russia. Both are accused of “extremist action” according to a statement from the Moscow judicial authorities.

Specifically, the complaints against them are related to videos posted on the YouTube channel of the dead opposition politician Alexei Navalny, with whom they are said to have cooperated according to the Russian authorities.

Even after Navalny’s death in prison in the Arctic Circle, the Nawalny LIVE channel continued to be operated by partners and members of the NGO Navalny Anti-Corruption Foundation. This group is characterized by the Russian authorities as already “extremist”.

DW affiliates in Russia until its ban

For their part, Gabov and Karelin deny that they participated in the production of online videos about her Navalny team. Both have been working for years as partners for many media, international and Russian. Gabov for the Russian networks Moskva 24 MIR, for the Reuters and Belsat agencies, while Karelin, a Russian-Israeli, for the AP, among others.

Before DW was banned in Russia in February 2022, both worked for DW, Gabov as a correspondent and Karelin as a cameraman. At the same time, the Kremlin revoked the International German Broadcasting Network’s license to broadcast in Russia, blocked its website, and revoked the credentials of DW’s correspondents and partners in Russia.

Both are currently in custody for two months, until June 27. If convicted, they face two to six years in prison. As the German program of DW notes, these arrests are part of a wider plan to arrest journalists critical of the Russian government after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Also typical are the recent, politically motivated, prosecutions of other international and Russian media journalists, such as the American magazine Forbes, the American newspaper Wall Street Journal and the independent networks SOTAvision, Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty.