Agentura.ru - Russian Newspapers

Agentura.ru
What is "Agentura"
Agentura.Ru (Russian: Àãåíòóðà.Ðó) is an Russian web-site founded in 2000 as internet-community of journalists who cover terrorism, intelligence agencies. Agentura.Ru is considered on of most respectable sources on Russian secret services. Editor of Agentura.Ru is Andrei Soldatov.
Agentura.Ru has been reported and featured in the New York Times, the Moscow Times, the Washington Post, Online Journalism Review, Le Monde, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Federation of American Scientists, BBC, as well in websites of The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies, Center for Defence Information, The Library of Congress, Cambridge Security Programme. Agentura.Ru is quoted by The New York Times as "A Web Site That Came in From the Cold to Unveil Russian Secrets".

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its annual report "Attacks on the press 2003" quoted Agentura.Ru: "While some Russian newspapers like the Moscow-based twice-weekly Novaya Gazeta have developed a strong tradition of exposing government abuses and continue to do so, others have been dissuaded after seeing colleagues murdered, beaten, prosecuted, and fined. Journalists who have opted for publishing on the Internet-like Andrei Soldatov, who runs the Web site Agentura.ru and specializes in writing about Russia's powerful security services-have been detained and questioned by security forces angered by articles about their activities".

In September of 2005 Agentura.Ru Studies and Research Centre / ASRC /, research department of Agentura.Ru project, has published the research paper “Terrorism prevention in Russia: one year after Beslan” (English). Short version of it has been republished in RUSI/Jane's Homeland Security and Resilience Monitor. On June 2006 Agentura.Ru Studies and Research Centre prepared the report "Al Qaeda. The role in the North Caucasus". First published in Novaya Gazeta.

Since January 2006 Agentura.Ru has cooperation with Novaya Gazeta covering intelligence and terrorism issues.

Timeline
2006
In January 2006 Agentura.Ru started joint project with Novaya gazeta (www.novayagazeta.ru), the influential liberal newspaper based in Moscow. It's a semi-weekly with political and social issues. The general circulation is now near 600,000 copies. In addition, it has a color monthly supplement with a 75,000-copy circulation.
2005: New Project - Studies and Research Centre http://studies.agentura.ru/
We started the new project - Agentura.Ru Studies and Research Centre / ASRC / is a Russian non-profit non-government organization providing research, analysis and commentaries covering security and terrorism issues. Centre is a research department of Agentura.Ru - internet-community of journalists who wrote about intelligence and security services. Centre experts are journalists, former security and intelligence agents, lawyers, human rights activists.
2004: New level of cooperation
In 2004 Agentura started wide cooperation with others media.
March 2004. Agentura started cooperation with radio Echo Moskvy. Until this date Agentura is preparing weekly commentary concerned secret services activity for Echo Mosckvy (each Sunday).
July 2004. Agentura started cooperation with Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. Agentura agreed to write commentary about Russian secret services activity for this newspaper.
August 2004. Agentura had a deal with Moscow News (Moskovskie Novosti), the one of most respectable Russian weekly, for covering secret services and intelligence activity.
September 2004. Agentura journalists worked on the air during hostage crisis in Beslan for Echo Moskvy, Moscow News, some Polish media and AP.
December 2004. The book “New patriot games. How secret services have been changing their skin 1991-2004” /Authors: Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan./ was published by publishing house Yauza / EKSMO.
2003: Journalistic organizations support Agentura
In 2003 Reporters without borders included case of Agentura in its annual report.
Committee to protect journalists (CPJ) published annual report "Attacks on the press 2003" (http://www.cpj.org/attacks03/europe03/europe.html). In this document you can find these words:
"While some Russian newspapers like the Moscow-based twice-weekly Novaya Gazeta have developed a strong tradition of exposing government abuses and continue to do so, others have been dissuaded after seeing colleagues murdered, beaten, prosecuted, and fined. Journalists who have opted for publishing on the Internet-like Andrei Soldatov, who runs the Web site Agentura.ru and specializes in writing about Russia's powerful security services-have been detained and questioned by security forces angered by articles about their activities."
2002: FSB accuses Agentura’s journalists after Nord-Ost critical reportage
December 2002 Committee to protect journalists /CPJ/ refers scandal with Andrei Soldatov, Versia and Agentura in annual report "Attacks on the Press 2002"
November 27 Newsweek published another article - “The dark side of Russia”, where refers to Agentura: "Perhaps most importantly, the revival of the secret service under Putin has also given his old intelligence cronies a chance to moonlight as entrepreneurs. Some former spies run protection rackets for businesses, head the security departments at big companies or offer "information services" (including blackmail material) to paying customers. Senior FSB officials are directly involved in struggles for the control of corporations (such as the oil company Slavneft) or supervise lucrative but potentially sensitive business sectors like the arms-export trade. Andrei Soldatov, a journalist who runs a Web site devoted to the secret services, says: "I've seen myself how the security officers in private companies just pick up their phones and casually dial their former colleagues in the FSB, asking 'Can you look in the database and find me information about so-and-so?'.
November 23 Newsweek published article about this situation (Newsweek 23.11.02 "More Questions Than Answers"): "Inside Russia, asking too many questions can still be risky. Russian journalist Andrey Soldatov and others from the Versiya newspaper who helped him write a damning report on the FSB's action, are being questioned by a Russian prosecutor. FSB investigators have already confiscated Soldatov's files and computer. Nonetheless, he is still trying to dig for answers. "If there were really so many explosives in the theatre, up to two tons, wouldn't they have evacuated the nearby houses?" asks Soldatov."
4 November 2002 Reporters Without Borders wrote "Several Russian media have been punished for their coverage of the recent hostage-taking episode in Moscow. On 25 October, information minister Mikhail Lessin ordered the closure of the regional TV station Moskovia for violating the anti-terrorist and press laws. He also threatened to shut down the Internet website of the radio station Moscow Echo for posting an interview with the kidnappers. The offices of the weekly Versia were also searched on 2 November by FSB secret police, who seized its Internet server. Managing editor Andrei Soldatov said the raid was linked with a forthcoming article, eventually published on 4 November, about the role of the special security forces in ending of the hostage-taking". (Reporters Without Borders refers new anti-terrorist law to UN and Council of Europe).
3 November 2002 Europe's media watchdog, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Freimut Duve, has expressed his concern regarding the recent prevailing climate of pressure on the media in Russia. "This attack against an independent media outlet is especially ominous since it happened 24 hours after the Russian Parliament adopted a number of highly restrictive provisions to the Law on Media. Several prominent Russian politicians have declared these amendments as basically initiating censorship in Russia. Under the current circumstances, the search of the premises of a leading weekly raises very serious concerns regarding Russia's commitment to freedom of expression," stressed Freimut Duve. Duve hopes that the Russian Parliament Federation Council, which will now discuss these amendments, will reject them. He will also appeal to the Russian Government, asking it to ensure that the country's commitments to freedom of the media as a participating State of the OSCE, a family of declared democracies, are fully adhered to. He awaits further information on the situation concerning the weekly, Versiya. (OSCE Press Release 3 November 2002 "OSCE media watchdog concerned over increased pressure on media in Russia").
On 1 November 2002, Agentura stuff was preparing this report to publish in Versia. In this moment FSB officers have visited the office of newspaper. They explained they searched the premises of Versiya, reportedly regarding information published in an article by the newspaper on 27 May 2002. But all staff believed that this operation against his newspaper was related to a forthcoming article on the storming of the Moscow theatre and freeing of the hostages there on 26 October.
October 2002 Agentura published the report of Nord-Ost storming, where were killed 130 hostages. This report criticized special services activity in this tragedy. Italian newspaper La Stampa republished this article with link to Agentura.
January 2002 Agentura concluded agreement with weekly newspaper "Versia" (publishing house Sovershenno Secretno). Sides agreed to publish articles prepared by Agentura journalists in Versia each week. Also, chief of Agentura Andrei Soldatov was named chief of section in Versia, called Agentura section.
2001: We became international
January 2001 Online Journalism Review published story about Russian sites and links to Agentura (Online Journalism Review 4.01.01 Russian Journalists Spread Wings Online)
January 2001 French newspaper Le Monde published story about Agentura (Le Monde 19.01.01 Un guide des services secrets russes). Author of article is special representative of Reporters without borders.
March 2001 Agentura became international project. Senior reporter of The Sunday Times Nick Fielding, one of the most famous investigative journalists in United Kingdom joined Agentura as member.
2000: Start
September 2000 The Moscow Times published story about Agentura project (The Moscow Times 14.09.00 Murky World of Spies Gets Portal)
December 2000 The New York Times published article about Agentura (New York Times 14.12.00 A Web Site That Came in From the Cold to Unveil Russian Secrets).
In this day FAS project published the same story (Federation of American Scientists. SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy 14.12.00 WATCHING THE WATCHERS IN RUSSIA).
Some stories about Agentura.Ru:
The Moscow Times 14.09.00 Murky World of Spies Gets Portal
New York Times 14.12.00 A Web Site That Came in From the Cold to Unveil Russian Secrets
Federation of American Scientists. SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy 14.12.00 WATCHING THE WATCHERS IN RUSSIA
Le Monde 19.01.01 Un guide des services secrets russes