The New York Times is pulling its journalists out of Russia due to safety concerns and a harsh new censorship law passed after that country’s invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper said Tuesday.
The move comes after a number of other Western media outlets, including CNN, Bloomberg News and the BBC, said they will no longer issue reports from Russia because of the threat of being prosecuted for covering the attack.
Russia President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law that threatens journalists with up to 15 years in prison for using words like “war” and invasion” to describe actions again Ukraine, or otherwise spreading what the law euphemistically refers to as “false information” about that invasion.
“Russia’s new legislation seeks to criminalize independent, accurate news reporting about the war against Ukraine,” Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said in an email statement to CNBC on Tuesday.
“For the safety and security of our editorial staff working in the region, we are moving them out of the country for now,” Rhoades Ha said.
“We look forward to them returning as soon as possible while we monitor the application of the new law. We will continue our live, robust coverage of the war, and our rigorous reporting on Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and these attempts to stifle independent journalism,” she said.
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