State-Funded American Journalist Detained in Russia
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Prague-based American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, who is an editor for the U.S. government-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) was detained in Russia on Wednesday.
The Details: Kurmasheva, who is a U.S.-Russia dual citizen, traveled to Kazan for a family emergency on May 20, before being temporarily detained, and required to forfeit both passports while waiting for her return flight on June 2. On Wednesday, she was accused of “deliberately conduct(ing) a targeted collection of military information about Russian activities via the internet to transmit information to foreign sources” in September 2022. She was also charged with failing to register as a foreign agent.
For Context: Introduced in 2012, Russia’s foreign agents law requires individuals or organizations that receive funding from abroad to register with the government. The U.S. also has a foreign agents law which critics like The Nation (Left bias) and Glenn Greenwald (Center bias) say has been weaponized selectively. Kurmasheva’s outlet, RFE/RL, was founded by the CIA in 1950 to weaken communist governments during the Cold War. Kurmasheva is the second American journalist detained in Russia this year, after Evan Gershkovich of the Wall Street Journal (Center bias) was detained in March.
How The Media Covered It: American media across the spectrum did not mention the historical context of RFE/RL or the similar U.S. foreign agents law. Washington Post (Lean Left bias) and New York Post (Lean Right bias) called Kurmasheva a “radio journalist” yet it is unclear whether that is an accurate description.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
US radio journalist detained in Russia, second to be jailed after WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich
A Russian-American radio journalist working for a US government-funded media organization was visiting family when she was detained by authorities and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, according to reports — even as a Wall Street Journal reporter remains in jail over suspicion of espionage.
Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, a Prague-based editor for Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Tatar-Bashkir Service, was arrested on Wednesday and was being held in a temporary detention center in Kazan — a major city 500 miles east of Moscow — as of Wednesday...
From the Center
Russia Detains American Journalist
Russian authorities have detained an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for failing to register as a foreign agent, marking the second detention of an American journalist in Russia this year.
Alsu Kurmasheva, who holds dual U.S.-Russian citizenship and lives in Prague, where the RFE/RL is based, was detained Wednesday in Kazan, a city in southwest Russia, according to a statement published the same day by the company. She was charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, the company said.
Kurmasheva couldn’t be reached for comment. It wasn’t...
From the Left
Russia detains radio journalist accused of being ‘foreign agent’
Russian authorities have arrested an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, an American news outlet based in Prague and financed by the U.S. government, accusing her of collecting information about the Russia military that could damage the nation’s security.
The editor, Alsu Kurmasheva, holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship and had traveled to Russia for family reasons. Her detention Wednesday in Kazan, southwestern Russia, follows the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, who was seized by agents of the Federal Security Service in March and...
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