The New York Times announced on Tuesday it’s pulling all of its correspondents out of Moscow. In a statement, the newspaper said the reason for removing its staff is a new law that criminalizes independent news reporting.
Neil MacFarquhar, a former Times Moscow bureau chief tweeted:
“Very sad day for the history of @nytimes in Moscow. Pulling all its correspondents out of the country. We have had reporters there continuously since 1921, with one or two short interruptions due to visa hiccoughs. Not Stalin, not the Cold War, nothing drove us out.”
CNN is staying in Moscow for the time being but ceased reporting from there until, the cable channel says, it has assessed the full impact of the new law.
Meanwhile, the BBC said it would resume broadcasting from Moscow after a four day hiatus.
As for the Washington Post, the newspaper reports:
A Post spokeswoman, Shani George, said on Saturday that the newspaper is “continuing to seek clarity about whether Russia’s new restrictions will apply to international news organizations,” although in the meantime it is removing bylines and datelines from specific stories as a means of protecting Russia-based contributors. “We want to be sure that our Moscow-based correspondents are not held responsible for material that is produced from beyond Russia,” she added.