The journalists of the influential Russian media outlet Kommersant who on May 20 announced that they were leaving the publication in protest against the dismissal of their colleagues had their editorial office passes cancelled.
The news was published by the deputy head of the politics department Mariya-Louiza Tirmaste on Facebook. She is also leaving the publication.
Journalists wanted to leave the outlet on June 15. According to RBC, they were also blocked access to accounts on their work computers.
Ales Gerasimenko, a former special correspondent for the publication, said that everyone had been escorted out of the building by the security.
In turn, the chief editor and general director of Kommersant, Vladimir Zhelonkin, told Novaya Gazeta that this was “a standard procedure at the time of dismissal.”
“What is the problem? They can get access to the premises under temporary passes,” the general director was quoted as saying.
On May 20, it became known that two journalists — Ivan Safronov and editor Maxim Ivanov — left the publication. According to the journalists, the reason for the dismissal was an article about a possible resignation of the Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko. In protest against this decision, the entire department of politics declared their desire to leave the company. There was more than a dozen people in total. The dismissed journalists addressed the readers, saying that “it is a question of direct pressure on journalists”.
The Kommersant newspaper is the first business outlet in Russia, published since 1990. Kommersant Publishing House is owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who had personal sanctions imposed against him by the US in early 2018 due to “close cooperation with the Kremlin”.
