
Ivan Golunov, an investigative reporter at Meduza, has been arrested in Moscow - DyslexicAtheist
https://twitter.com/Alexey__Kovalev/status/1137088350500925440
======
samat
Having worked in Meduza as CTO for 4 years, I have a rather thick skin on this
matters. However, this particular shitshow really pissed me off.

Ivan Golunov is one of the best investigative journalists in Russia and have
crossed so many powerful people that he is SUPER CAREFUL about abiding the
law. I have heard he was working on the FSB corruption lately.

Now police arrests him, beats him, denies lawyer for hours and then says he
had 10 kilo heroin in his apartment. They want to put him in prison for 10-20
years. This is insane even by Russian standards.

Fuck this regime.

~~~
krn
> Now police arrests him, beats him, denies lawyer for hours and then says he
> had 10 kilo heroin in his apartment.

How likely is it, that Ivan Golunov was targeted for his latest report, which
was published the next day after his arrest[1]?

> This is insane even by Russian standards

No, that's not insane by Russian standards at all. At least he is still alive,
unlike some of his colleagues[2]:

"The day before his fall, Borodin told his friend that he had seen armed,
camouflaged men near his flat. Following this, he attempted to find a lawyer.
Later, however, Borodin called his friend again and said he had made a
mistake, and that he thought the men had been taking part in some kind of
training exercise."

What I cannot understand, is why would anyone choose such a job without
leaving Russia for one of the Baltic states first.

Is the "List of journalists killed in Russia"[3] not long enough already?

[1] [https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/07/the-
evictors](https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/07/the-evictors)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Maksim_Borodin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Maksim_Borodin)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia)

~~~
txru
It's the difference between exit and voice. I can perfectly well understand
that many people may love Russia and it's culture, and hate the politics, so
much that they're willing to die to change the politics. I'm sure they would
rather not, but they appreciate the risk.

I can imagine that to readers, a journalist reporting from abroad looks less
earnest, or perhaps readers think they are more susceptible to control by
foreign interests. To the journalist, he or she can't interview Russians. And
unfortunately, the Baltics wouldn't be much more safe for the determined state
anyway.

------
sakopov
I was born in one of ex-Soviet republics and lived in Russia for a bit in the
90s and on one hand I'm surprised that people tolerate this level of bullshit,
but on the other hand I can see why they do. Russian government basically
needs to ensure that the quality of life is a tad better than what it was in
the 90s to keep most people docile. Russians have been through so much shit
that they can endure anything and the government is basically taking advantage
of this and does whatever it wants in plain sight. This absurd submissiveness
even has its own term in Russian - Vata (literal translation is cotton), which
basically implies you're so soft, submissive and brainwashed that you
ultimately don't care what happens to you as long as your basic, fundamental
needs are met. However, the new generation of Russians is completely different
and have no interest living in stagnation, deprived of future for themselves
and their children, but man, the wall is so tall at this point it's hard to
see what they can achieve. I really believe that not much is going to change
in Russia until the Soviet generations die out, as sad as it may sound.

~~~
butteroverflow
As one ex-Soviet to another, I think you are being too optimistic. The
situation in smaller cities seems to be quite dire to me. Most of the people I
know either don't know of the situations like this, or don't care. They still
have some freedom of information, some level of access to "alternative"
worldviews, but they prefer not to exercise it and to get their daily dose of
brainwashing from RT and Russia 24.

For example, to most of my acquaintances Navalny is known as "the guy who
stole the timber".

Honestly, I am not at all sure if Russia is still salvageable. I've been
reading some of the classic literature from 18-19 centuries, and it reads like
it was written yesterday.

I am thinking of just leaving as far away as I can from all this fucking
bullshit, before the iron curtain comes crashing down.

~~~
IWeldMelons
As someone from Central Asia, allow me to correct you. The only people who
matter are those who who live in the capitals and the biggest cities. As soon
as people in Moscow start getting disappointed in the "system", the regime
will quickly collapse.

------
r721
News stories:

[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-
europe-48566028](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48566028)

[https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/07/what-we-know-so-
far-...](https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/07/what-we-know-so-far-about-
the-arrest-of-meduza-correspondent-ivan-golunov)

------
varjag
It is remarkable how they incriminate him 5.37 grams of cocaine. This is 0.37g
over "massive possession" legal threshold, but not even by a whole gram as to
not hit too hard on some officer's private stash.

------
xyzal
"Doctor treating @meduzaproject ’s Ivan Golunov says he may have broken ribs,
a concussion and a hematoma. All likely sustained while he was in custody.
Police won’t allow him to be hospitalized or have an X-ray."

That's just abhorrent.

~~~
vasili111
This is just modern Russia.

------
konart
And just for people not from Russia - you don't really need to be an
investigative journalist for the police to put you behind the bars, then to
put 5+ grams of cocaine somewhere into your apartment and 228 you. All you
need is a sucker who needs to meet the quota or a cunt who wants a bit of cash
as bribe. As simple as that.

------
wavefunction
Too bad this actual journalist doesn't have celebrities queuing up to advocate
on his behalf. This sounds like a classic frame-up.
[https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/08/moscow-police-say-
iv...](https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/06/08/moscow-police-say-ivan-golunov-
refused-to-surrender-forensic-samples-and-here-s-why-that-claim-looks-
extremely-bogus)

------
markvdb
So ironic Meduza is operating from Latvia.

Meduza focusing more on Russia proper, I'm not aware of any decent quality
local Russian language news media in Latvia. That leaves a large part of the
population exposed to "news" worse than Fox News. That is not a healthy
situation...

The _local_ news media in Latvia are mostly bad quality. Apart from ir.lv and
small initiatives like rebaltica.lv, that is. Those are both Latvian language.
The biggest newspapers diena.lv and nra.lv are both linked to local oligarchs.
Quite ironic, especially when you know that nra translates to _independent_
morning news...

P.S. If anyone can point me towards decent quality Russian language media in
Latvia, I'd be really grateful!

~~~
krn
> If anyone can point me towards decent quality Russian language media in
> Latvia, I'd be really grateful!

What about [https://rus.delfi.lv/](https://rus.delfi.lv/) ?

~~~
markvdb
Thank you for your comment. Delfi's not too bad indeed, for a web news portal.
Probably the best available.

I should have clarified that with "decent quality", I meant things like
original investigative journalism and a verifiable ethics policy. Delfi falls
short on the first and I'm not entirely sure about the second...

------
mathgenius
Very sad to read about this. I actually didn't realize that Russia still had
any free press.

~~~
orthoxerox
Meduza is located in Latvia, only some of its journalists are in Russia.

------
iav
In the fading days of the Soviet Union they put away dissidents in insane
asylums where they were pressured into giving up their USSR citizenship and
leaving for the West. While inhumane, no one ever got beaten or treated as
poorly as the modern Russian police treats its opponents. That was partially
why 1991 was a bloodless revolution, the USSR mostly abided by its own laws,
minus the democracy part. I have a feeling history will judge the current
regime worse than the Communists.

~~~
IWeldMelons
The situation is actually quite a bit more subtle. The most "lawful" periods
in the Soviet Union were during the Khrushchev and Andropov times. Brezhnev's
period (esp. th last days of it) was a a complete mess, when the Soviet police
acquired enormous power and felt hey can do anything the want, especially in
Moscow. Yet KGB was indeed quite bit less dirty than FSB.

------
paulcarroty
Totalitarian countries always don't like the journalists, nothing new.
Khashoggi and many others deals needs a good court.

