Gorodetskiy Vyacheslav Valerevich

Early in the morning on June 11, 2024, six people in balaclavas broke into the office of the independent media 'Arctic Observer' in Murmansk. The security forces called these actions a "verification event. The security forces "sifted through" all the papers that were on the journalists' desks, reviewed all the entries in notebooks and diaries." "As a result, they took away all the equipment - computers, phones, information carriers." The editor-in-chief of the publication, Vyacheslav Gorodetsky, began to be threatened with 'the use of physical force and firearms'. He was taken for a 'conversation' to the FSB office. The reason for the 'show', or as it was officially called, 'verification event', was certain information indicating that I was gathering information that may relate to state secrets. If we're being specific, I was supposedly involved in gathering sensitive information regarding the special operation (the number of casualties, mobilized individuals...),' wrote Gorodetsky." Later that evening he was released without being charged. Gorodetsky believes this was a "scare tactic. In April 2023, searches were also conducted in the apartments of journalists from the media due to a report from one of the officials of the regional government regarding a published article.