Russian court fines Meduza co-founder Galina Timchenko for participation in ‘undesirable organization’

A Moscow court has fined Meduza co-founder Galina Timchenko 14,000 rubles ($168) for participating in an “undesirable organization,” Mediazona reported on Wednesday.

The basis for the charges was a special episode of Meduza’s daily Russian-language news podcast “What Happened” from January 2024 in which Timchenko spoke about the latest developments at Meduza and responded to letters from readers.

Since the start of 2024, the Russian authorities have been aggressively prosecuting employees and readers of independent media outlets on the government’s “undesirable” registry, with the highest number of cases involving Meduza specifically. In addition to Timchenko, misdemeanor charges have been filed against Meduza journalists Svetlana Reiter and Dmitry Kuznetsov, film critic Anton Dolin, and reporters Anastasia Zhvik and Asya Zolnikova, who worked with Meduza as freelancers.

The Russian authorities outlawed Meduza as an “undesirable organization” in January 2023.