Journalists were arrested on Saturday in Russia while protesting for media freedom after the Russian government labeled a media outlet a \u201cforeign agent.\u201d
\nThe \u2026<\/b>
\nJournalists were arrested on Saturday in Russia while protesting for media freedom after the Russian government labeled a media outlet a \u201cforeign agent.\u201d The protest took place outside the FSB, the country\u2019s domestic security agency, after TV channel Dozhd was labeled a foreign agent by the Justice Ministry, a decision the outlet says they plan to appeal, The Associated Press reported. \u201cI\u2019m against labelling the TV channel Dozhd as a \u2018foreign agent,\u2019\u201d Farida Rustamova, a Dozhd journalist at the protest, stated. \u201cI want to work and live freely in Russia. I want to have an opportunity to be a free journalist. I don\u2019t want my colleagues to be arrested, searched and labeled as an \u2018enemy of the people\u2019 or \u2018agents.\u2019\u201d Other signs at the event included \u201cYou are afraid of the truth\u201d and \u201cJournalism is not a crime.\u201d Dozhd has been highly critical of the Russian government and has monitored the situation between the government and opposition leader Alexei Navalny closely, according to the AP. Alexei Navalny was poisoned in Russia and was later flown out of the country to Germany to receive treatment for his poisoning. He was later jailed upon re-entery to the country The government’s decision to label Dozhd as a foreign agent will hurt the outlet\u2019s advertising ability in Russia. The Russian government has been cracking down on dissent against the country, especially with the upcoming September parliamentary elections. \u201cThe fact that we don\u2019t want to write stories that other pro-government media do doesn\u2019t mean that we violate something and that we are some \u2018foreign agents,\u2019\u201d Yulia Krasnikova, a journalist with Vazhnye Istorii, said. \u201cI\u2019m here to protest it and to support my colleagues.\u201d The move comes after the country refused to renew the visa of a journalist from the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n