ABAKAN, Russia -- Police in Russia's Khakasia region in Siberia have detained the chief editor of the Novy fokus (New Focus) online newspaper over a recent report it published related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Media Rights Defense Center said late on April 13 that police detained Mikhail Afanasyev in Khakasia's capital, Abakan, after they searched his home and confiscated computers and communications devices.
According to the rights group and the Telegram channel of Setevyye Svobody (Network Freedoms), Afanasyev's detention is linked to his newspaper's recent report about the refusal of local riot-police officers to participate in the war in Ukraine, which Russia launched on February 24.
A court decision on Afanasyev's pretrial restrictions is pending.
Afanasyev is one of the most well-known journalists in Siberia. He was the first foreign recipient of the Swedish Magazine Publishers Association's Award and was twice awarded with the Andrei Sakharov prize "For Journalism as a Deed."
