MOSCOW,December 26,2023 – The Russian goverment stripped journalist Roman Anin of his citizenship in December,alleging his outlet fabricated reports of war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.Despite this move, Anin, who obtained Russian citizenship in 2006 after being born in moldova, remains resolute in his reporting.
Key Takeaways
- Russian authorities revoked the citizenship of investigative journalist Roman Anin.
- The decision followed reporting on alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
- Anin and a colleague where previously sentenced to prison in absentia for their reporting.
- Reporters without Borders condemned the move as “transnational repression.”
“It will not affect my work in any way,” Anin told reporters. The decision to revoke his citizenship followed a sentencing last year of anin and former IStories colleague Ekaterina Fomina to 8.5 years in prison, handed down in absentia, after their reporting on Russian soldiers accused of killing Ukrainian civilians in Andriivka, near Kyiv, in 2022. During the investigation, a Russian officer reportedly confessed to Fomina that his commander had ordered the killings. IStories also identified paratroopers present in Bucha during another massacre of ukrainian civilians.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a non-governmental institution that monitors press freedom, characterized the revocation of Anin’s citizenship as an act of “transnational repression by the Russian state against journalists and independant media.”
“By stripping Anin of his citizenship, the Kremlin is not merely punishing dissenting journalism – it is escalating a strategy of intimidation that reaches journalists in their places of exile,” Jeanne Cavalier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, stated.
What are the consequences of reporting on alleged war crimes in Russia? Reporting on alleged war crimes can lead to severe repercussions, including lengthy prison sentences and the revocation of citizenship, as demonstrated by the cases of Anin and Fomina.
This citizenship dispute isn’t Anin’s first encounter with Russian authorities. In 2021, Federal Security Service officers raided his home after he published an article about a luxury yacht linked to an ally of Vladimir Putin. He later left the country and has not returned. The Russian government then designated Anin as a “foreign agent.” In 2022,IStories was labeled an “undesirable” organization,effectively criminalizing collaboration with the outlet or engagement with its content.
In 2022,the russian parliament adopted laws criminalizing the dissemination of “fakes” and actions deemed to “discredit” the army,as part of a broader effort to suppress coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. A subsequent law passed in 2023 authorized the revocation of acquired citizenship for offenses related to these laws.
Anin acknowledged that repression is “intensifying,” despite repeated attempts by Russian authorities to curtail his work.
Russia reached its lowest-ever ranking in the RSF press freedom index in 2025, coinciding with what the organization described as the most intense crackdown on independent media as the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia held the second-highest number of imprisoned reporters, trailing only China.
Despite the mounting pressure,IStories remains committed to its mission. “Imagine history without all the facts,” Anin said. “We are preserving the history, and this is one of the major roles that we play.” He cited the outlet’s coverage of the deportation of Ukrainian orphans from occupied territories as an example of their work.
Anin views the use of passport denials and citizenship revocations as a “weapon against its opponents,” but expressed a sense of vindication. “Look at what Russia is today.It’s a country that is bombing Ukraine … committing horrible war crimes every week,” he said. “If such a state revokes someone’s citizenship, well then it means that I’m on the right side of history.”
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