The independent Russian news outlet Meduza, long a target of Kremlin repression, has issued an extraordinary appeal for freelance journalists still living inside Russia to contribute to its coverage. The request, published on the outlet’s platform, underscores both the relentless pressure on independent media and the organisation’s defiant determination to maintain a domestic reporting presence nearly four years into the full-scale war against Ukraine. Viewed from Moscow, the move carries obvious risks: any Russian citizen collaborating with a media outlet designated as a “foreign agent” and later “undesirable” faces potential criminal prosecution. Yet Meduza’s editors insist the work is essential, and they have developed strict security protocols to protect contributors whose identities, if exposed, could lead to severe consequences.

This appeal arrives as Meduza marks five years of operating exclusively on reader donations, a model forced upon it after the Russian authorities blocked the site and declared its parent organisation undesirable in 2021 and again in 2022. The outlet’s staff, most of whom now work from abroad, have long relied on a network of stringers inside Russia to report on stories that state-controlled media ignore. The new call for authors, however, signals a more urgent need to replenish that network. Analysts in London note that the Kremlin’s war on independent journalism has intensified since the invasion of Ukraine, with the number of criminal cases against journalists rising sharply and many outlets simply ceasing publication. Meduza’s survival, by contrast, is seen as a rare testament to reader solidarity and editorial resilience.

From Washington, the appeal is viewed as a high-stakes gamble. American observers have watched the slow strangulation of Russian independent media with growing alarm, yet Meduza’s ability to publish critical reporting—on everything from military casualties to corruption—suggests that pockets of defiance remain. The outlet’s editors acknowledge that every year has been more difficult than the last, and that the future remains precarious. Looking ahead, the question is not whether Meduza can find new authors, but how long such contributors can operate undetected in a surveillance state that treats independent reporting as an act of war. For now, the outlet is betting that the demand for uncensored news inside Russia will outweigh the danger for those willing to write it.