More than 20 percent of Russians say free speech and the independent media are under threat

Around 35 percent of Russians believe the government poses no threat to free speech and does not infringe on the activities of the independent media, according to the news website RBC, citing data from the Levada Center. 

This contrasts with a survey in 2010, when 56 percent of Russians said they perceived no threats to free speech. According to the new poll, roughly 21 percent of the country says it believes “the authorities are attacking free speech and infringing on independent media.”

According to the Levada Center, 15 percent of respondents said they are convinced that Russian television channels are subject to censorship, while 42 percent said they suspect as much. Just 20 percent deny the possibility of censorship on TV. About 60 percent of respondents stated that television is their main source of information.

More than half the country (53 percent) says Russia needs a television channel that criticizes the government without censorship.

The majority of those surveyed say they've never heard of any major scandals related to the censorship of Russian media. About 62 percent were unaware of the changes introduced to the editorial board of newspaper RBC in May 2016 and 46 percent did not know why the independent TV station Dozhd was dropped from cable packages in 2014.

Furthermore, 87 percent of respondents said they never access news information from foreign sources. Just 4 percent of Russians say they read the foreign news press or watch foreign TV broadcasts at least once a month.