Czechia: Russian Journalists Irina Dolinina and Alesya Marokhovskaya Fear Surveillance After Threats
The exiled journalists received threatening messages with personal information and intimate knowledge of their location
Location: Czechia, Prague
Date: September 14, 2023Update: December 5, 2023
Russian journalists Alesya Marokhovskaya and Irina Dolinina, now living in Czechia, received a series of threats targeting their safety. The threats, which have escalated in severity, raise concerns about the safety of Russian journalists living in exile. On December 5, 2023, Prague Police announced they had closed their investigation into the incident due to lack of information about the perpetrator. The Coalition For Women In Journalism and Women Press Freedom is disappointed with this decision. We urge authorities in Czechia to reopen their investigation, ensuring the journalists’ safety.
“When I left Russia, I was not in a stable state. Everything triggered me — for example, a police car drove near me — and I had to repeat to myself that ‘I was safe now’ constantly,” exiled Russian journalist Irina Dolinina tells CFWIJ. “Unfortunately, this feeling of safety was ruined for me later.”
Dolinina left Russia and moved to Prague shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The journalist, who works for IStories and previously reported with Novaya Gazeta, says working as a journalist in Europe was initially a breadth of fresh air. “Here, I felt finally safe for a long period of my life,” says Dolinina.
“In Russia, we were always working under pressure with the understanding that you could be arrested, or something worse, at any time. Especially after I was labeled a "foreign agent" in 2021. I was living with constant waiting for the police or FSB knocking at my door,” recalls Dolinina.
However, the sense of safety was short-lived as Dolinina and her colleague Alesya Marokhovskaya began receiving threats that led them to believe they were being watched.
On September 14, ahead of planned travel to Sweden for an international conference for investigative journalists, they received disturbing messages with detailed information about their flights and hotel reservations, leaving no doubt that the sender possessed insider knowledge. The sender claimed to know where to find them, told them to take the threat seriously, and explicitly warned the journalists against attending the event.
This was the third in a series of threats sent to Dolinina and Marokhovskaya over several months. Initially, the journalists chose not to publicize these threats, considering them a part of their work and an acknowledgment of their efforts. However, with the recent escalation, they decided to bring them to light.
Dolinina says they feared being targeted at the conference in Sweden, potentially exposing others to the threats. “We didn't want that, so we didn't come to the conference,” says the reporter. “But also, we decided that it's time to warn all our colleagues and basically everyone who is against this war to be more careful.”
For months, Dolinina and Marokhovskaya received worrying messages containing personal information through the feedback form on the IStories website. The first threat arrived in the early hours of March 3, 2023. An anonymous person sent a message mentioning specific details about where they lived. It is unclear how the sender obtained this private information.
"We considered the first threat credible because the message included information that's not easy to find out: our addresses in Prague," explains Dolinina.
The second threat, received on August 24, confirmed the stalker-like nature of the sender. The person demonstrated knowledge of Marokhovskaya's relocation to a different apartment and warned that she could not hide from them. The message also referred to Marokhovskaya's wheezing dog, indicating the sender had been watching her in Prague.
These threats shattered the sense of security Dolinina had found in Europe, stating, "I quickly came back to the regime of constant awareness in which I was living in Russia."
Security experts doubt those sending the threats obtained information by hacking into the journalists' devices. Instead, the sender may have connections to the Russian state, potentially even working for the FSB. A former employee of a European intelligence service suggested these intimidation tactics align with the modus operandi of Russian security forces, known for using psychological abuse to pressure journalists.
Speaking about the effect of threats, Dolinina says “It didn't affect my work much because I got used to working under pressure, but it surely affected my social life. I started to feel like a toxic element for people who just live a normal life in Europe, and I don't want anyone to be harmed just because they appeared to be near me.”
On December 5, 2023, the Czech government announced it had closed its police investigation into the harassment of the iStories journalists. Although the state reiterated its concern for the exiled reporters, it stated the case was closed as “it was not possible to find out the facts that would justify the initiation of criminal proceedings against a specific person.”
According to sources CFWIJ spoke to, police have, as of now, closed the case without explanation.
The threats against Dolinina and Marokhovskaya are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of intimidation faced by independent Russian journalists and activists abroad. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, strict military censorship laws were introduced, suppressing accurate reporting on the war. As a result, many independent media outlets and their staff left Russia to continue their work in other European countries. Yet, it has become evident recently that Putin's regime is determined to silence their reporting, regardless of location.
In August 2023, three exiled Russian women journalists revealed they had been poisoned. They suspect Russian security services involvement. Elena Kostyuchenko, Irina Babloyan, and Natalia Arno were targeted in various European locations, raising concerns about the safety of journalists who speak out against the Russian government.
Galina Timchenko, head of Russian news outlet Meduza, spoke publicly in September 2023 of how her phone was hacked with Pegasus spyware while in Berlin. This is the first reported case of spyware being found on a Russian journalist's phone. The hack on Timchenko's phone is believed to have occurred just before a gathering of independent Russian media figures in Berlin, raising concerns about potential eavesdropping. While Timchenko believes Russia was responsible, experts have not found evidence of Russian involvement.
In July 2023, a journalist for the Russian publication The Insider, Marfa Smirnova, revealed she also received regular threats since April 2023, including a wiretap of her family's apartment in Moscow.
The increasing number of cases targeting exiled Russian journalists suggests a tactic of transnational repression by the Russian government. This practice involves authoritarian governments targeting and persecuting people beyond their borders to silence dissent and maintain control. Tactics such as surveillance, harassment, intimidation, abduction, and even assassination are used against dissidents, activists, journalists, and political opponents who have fled their home countries and are critical of the ruling regime.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism and Women Press Freedom is deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of Alesya Marokhovskaya and Irina Dolinina. Authorities in Czechia must immediately reopen its investigation and identify those surveilling and threatening the Istories journalists. European countries are becoming increasingly hostile environments for journalists critical of the Kremlin. These incidents cannot be allowed to occur with impunity.
We call on the European Union to denounce these intimidation tactics and act now to ensure the safety of independent Russian journalists living in member states.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
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