Journalists Detained Over Alleged Connections to Navalny YouTube Channel

Two Russian journalists were detained and given pre-trial detention in Moscow in connection with their alleged work for the YouTube channel belonging to the foundation of Alexei Navalny, who died in a Siberian penal colony earlier this year.

Konstantin Gabov, who is also a Reuters news agency producer, was arrested on Thursday and sent to pre-trial detention on Saturday, the Moscow Courts said. He is accused of participation in a designated extremist organization, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, for work on the group’s NavalnyLIVE YouTube channel.

The court’s Telegram channel released video of Gabov in Basmanny District Court on Saturday.

On Friday, journalist Sergei Karelin, a citizen of both Russia and Israel, was arrested on similar charges. Karelin has previously worked with Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press, which said in a statement it was “very concerned” about his detention.

Both men denied the charges in court.

A third Russian reporter, Sergei Mingazov, was also arrested on Friday and accused of discrediting the Russian military for posting about the massacre in Bucha, near Kyiv, in 2022. Mingazov, who works for the Russian edition of Forbes, was placed under under house arrest and his communications have been restricted, according to the European Federation of Journalists.

Opposition leader and activist Navalny died on February 16 in a penal colony in the autonomous Yamalo-Nenets district, where he had been moved in January. His death drew international condemnation, and his widow, Yulia, has vowed to carry on his work.

Navalny’s foundation has been a designated extremist organization in Russia since 2021. Credit: Moscow Courts via Storyful