Pressure from the Kremlin and sanctions from the West have forced Russian news outlet Meduza to increasingly rely on cryptocurrency donations to fund its independent journalism. As the restrictions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have prevented its Russian readers from contributing in fiat currency, the Riga-based website now accepts several digital coins.
Meduza Pulls Journalists out of Russia, Seeks Crypto Support
The war in Ukraine has affected Russian-language news site Meduza in more than one way, a report by Bloomberg reveals. Soon after the Kremlin launched its “special military operation,” President Vladimir Putin’s administration clamped down on independent reporting on the conflict and the media outlet has sought help to resettle its 25 journalists in Latvia.
The small Baltic nation of around 2 million, which has a large Russian speaking minority, has become a hub for exiled Russian media. Western sanctions, however, do not allow Meduza’s 30,000 Russian readers who supported it before the conflict to send funds through Stripe, after the payment processor suspended services in the Russian Federation to comply with the penalties.
The war and the sanctions have forced Meduza to turn to its international audience and ask for financial help in U.S. dollars, euros, or cryptocurrency. It now accepts card payments, bank wires, Paypal transfers, and multiple coins including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), the stablecoin tether (USDT), and the privacy-oriented monero (XMR). The report notes that the provided BTC and ETH wallets have already accumulated about $230,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
Commenting on the situation, the news portal’s editor-in-chief Ivan Kolpakov pointed out that Meduza is currently raising only around half of what it needs to develop. While declining to reveal the total amount of
