How Russian Journalist Dmitry Muratov, Now Declared a ‘Foreign Agent,’ Faced Off With Putin in the Past

For Nobel Peace Prize-winning Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, September got off to a troubling start.

On the first day of the month, news broke that Muratov, one of a dwindling number of independent journalists remaining in Moscow, had been added to the Russian government’s growing list of “foreign agents” and accused of promoting “opinions that are aimed at forming a negative attitude towards Russia’s interior and foreign policy.”

It was the latest development in a crackdown on the independent news media by Russian President Vladimir Putin that has escalated since the start of the Ukraine war — a crackdown that, along with Muratov’s fight for independent journalism, is the subject of the FRONTLINE documentary, Putin vs. the Press.

With unique access, the film, which is available to watch online now, follows Muratov in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine as he tries to keep his newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, alive and his reporters safe amid the government’s clampdown.

“If you write the word ‘war,’ you’ll be shut down,” Muratov says while being filmed for the documentary. “If you tell us how the fighting is going on in Ukraine, you have no right to do so. Because you must only cite the point of view of the official military authorities. This is absolutely ferocious censorship.”

The documentary explores Muratov’s leadership of Novaya Gazeta, an independent paper known for its investigative reporting: exposing the horrors of the Chechen war, corruption among the ruling elite and increasing authoritarianism in modern Russia. Between 2000 and 2009, six Novaya Gazeta journalists and contributors were murdered.

The film chronicles how Muratov sustained the news outlet for years by walking a tightrope — sometimes compromising with the Kremlin, accepting funding from oligarchs and always keeping a channel open to Putin — and how he and Novaya Gazeta became targets of the authorities’ tightening grip on independent reporting amid the war on Ukraine.

As the above excerpt from the documentary shows, less than two years before he was branded a “foreign agent” himself, Muratov confronted Putin publicly about the Kremlin’s treatment of independent media and the government’s process for labeling journalists “foreign agents.”

“This law has no judgment. There is no court there. You are declared a ‘foreign agent,’ there is no evidence, there is no sentence. You are just branded a criminal,” Muratov told Putin at an October 2021 presidential press conference, making a comparison to the fate of a character, Milady, in the classic book The Three Musketeers.

After congratulating Muratov on his recent Nobel Peace Prize win, Putin responded, “You said there was no verdict. You’re right, there really isn’t one. Milady was sentenced and her head was cut off, but no one is cutting anything off here.”

As the documentary goes on to explore, more than 100 Russian journalists and media outlets have been branded as “foreign agents” in recent years, and anyone who calls the Ukraine conflict an invasion or act of war can face up to 15 years in prison.

“Most journalists in the independent media have been forced to leave Russia,” Muratov says in the excerpt. “This is very painful for me.”

As the war on Ukraine and Putin’s clampdown on independent Russian news media continue, and Muratov plans to appeal his “foreign agent” designation, the documentary is an essential look at what’s at stake.

For the full story, watch Putin vs. the Press:

Putin vs. the Press premiered on Sept. 12, 2023. It is available to watch on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel, the PBS App and the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel. It is an Oxford Films Production for GBH/FRONTLINE and Channel 4. The director is Patrick Forbes. The producers are Yelena Durden-Smith and Vanessa Tuson. The senior producer is Dan Edge. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. International distribution of the film is handled by Abacus Media Rights.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the accurate number of journalists and media outlets that have been branded “foreign agents” in recent years. 

This story has been updated.