‘So we don’t end up back in the days of rabid Meduza’ Kremlin spokesman defends wartime censorship, praises patriotic media, and warns against outlets that ‘discredit Russia’
In a new interview with Expert magazine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defended the Russian government’s tightening grip on the media, calling wartime censorship “justified.” The surge in patriotic messaging across Russian newsrooms, he argued, isn’t propaganda but a reflection of pride that’s always existed — just previously ignored by editors. And even if the information climate softens in the future, Peskov made clear: the Kremlin won’t be repeating past mistakes and allowing outlets like “rabid Meduza” to make a come back. Meduza shares a summary of a few of his more notable remarks.
Asked how the Russian media landscape has changed in recent years, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that many outlets have shut down and a significant number of journalists have relocated abroad. But, he said, this is the reality of “military censorship,” which he called “unprecedented” for Russia but ultimately “justified.”
“War is being waged in the information space, too,” Peskov said. “And it would be wrong to turn a blind eye to media outlets that deliberately work to discredit Russia. That’s why I believe the current regime is justified.”
When asked about the growing dominance of patriotic messaging in Russian media, Peskov acknowledged that there has been a dramatic transformation over the past three years, but framed the trend as an overall positive one. “There’s a very high concentration of material with patriotic content or tone,” he said, adding that some outlets inevitably “overdo it.”
“Being a patriot isn’t some great achievement — it’s a normal human condition,” Peskov continued. He insisted that love of country and pride in Russia had always existed among most citizens, but said many media outlets once avoided overt patriotism. “You could even say that, for some editorial teams, skepticism toward their own country was part of their editorial policy.”
Peskov predicted that the trend of overt patriotism in Russian media will persist, though he suggested there may eventually be room for more moderate messaging. “Of course the time will come when a softer information policy is in demand,” he said. “And then we’ll see more neutral media outlets that write about both problems and achievements.”
“But,” he added, “of course we’ll take into account the mistakes of the past — so we don’t end up back in the days of rabid Meduza, which either says bad things about Russia or nothing at all.”
On July 9, a Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko on charges of running an illegal “undesirable organization.” Russia outlawed Meduza as “undesirable” in 2023, and designated Timchenko a “foreign agent” the following year.
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Cover photo: Sergey Bulkin / TASS / Profimedia