A Russian independent news company has raised more than $250,000 in cryptocurrency donations from supporters in order to continue independent news reporting under a barrage of propaganda and censorship from the Russian government.
Meduza, a Latvian-based Russian-language news site that claims to report on “the real Russia, today,” has been asking for donations since April 2021. in the form of US dollars, euros, and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), BNB, Tether (USDT), Monero (XMR), and Zcash (ZEC).
Since the publication of its request for donations, the news company has received around $250,000 in cryptocurrency donations through 146,000 individual transactions. Around 93% of the total donation amount came in the form of 3.75 BTC at $116,954 and 49.9 ETH at $117,767.
Folks, Meduza has redesigned its crowdfunding after being disconnected from our supporters in Russia. We now turn to you—our global audience—to replace those 30k donors. Help us keep Russians & the world informed about the monstrous war against Ukraine. https://t.co/y83ieV9LuT
— Meduza in English (@meduza_en) March 14, 2022
Friends, Meduza has redesigned his crowdfunding after being cut off from our supporters in Russia. We now turn to you—our global audience—to replace those 30,000 donors. Help us keep Russians and the world informed about the monstrous war against Ukraine.
Meduza’s money troubles began in April 2021, after the Russian Justice Ministry labeled her, along with other independent media outlets, as “foreign agents”forcing the company to place a warning in large print on each of its Russian-language articles to inform readers of its “foreign agent” status. The same warning has to appear on all ads as well, which has caused them to lose almost all of their advertisers. They have written in their frequently asked questions about donations:
“As you can imagine, few companies will pay to promote their products under a warning that the content was ‘created by foreign agents’.
Nevertheless, being labeled a foreign agent did not stop readers in Russia from donating to the organizationas the company quickly established a pathway for taxpayers to contribute regulatory donations through their banks through payment processor Stripe and through cryptocurrencies.
But, in March, Meduza was met with censorship from the Russian government and the impact of Western sanctions. Russian authorities blocked his website for “disseminating information that violates the law”. Additionally, one of the main avenues for receiving donations from Russian supporters was blocked by the SWIFT network ban for Russian banks on February 26.
SWIFT is a global financial messaging network used by financial institutions to make international money transfers.
Meduza wrote on his donation website that financial constraints had prevented them from receiving donations from their supporters in Russia.
Since February 25, the news organization and its journalists have been posting daily updates on Russia’s war against Ukraine, sharing pictures and stories about Ukrainian civilians affected by the war and other major events not reported by local Russian media.
“Millions of people in Russia now trust our information,” Meduza wrote, noting that its journalists were forced to leave the country:
“Since the outbreak of this war, money transfers from Russia to Europe are impossible. We have lost 30,000 donors. At the moment, we do not receive any money from Russia.”
Ivan Kolpakov, editor-in-chief of Meduza, told Bloomberg that donations will help its 25 journalists who have fled the country to resettle in Riga, Latvia, where the company’s headquarters are located.
Meduza and his journalists are not the only unwitting victims of Russian sanctions. Media reports over the months they have singled out ordinary Russians, students studying abroad, international students in Russia, and even the civilian populations of entire nations as seriously affected by the sanctions imposed by Russia.
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