Russia’s detention of US journalists has drawn criticism from press freedom groups. Russia has detained a Russian-American journalist at a government-funded US media outlet for failing to register as a “foreign agent” when she entered the country during a family emergency. Russia has tightened controls over the media following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, designating many reporters as “foreign agents”. Press freedom groups and the US government have strongly criticised such detentions as a form of stifling dissent. CPJ called the charges against Kurmasheva “spurious” in its statement with RFE/RL.
