Russian Journalists' Union Suspended from International Federation, Says Solovyov

The membership of the Russian Journalists' Union in the International Federation of Journalists has been suspended. This was announced today by the president of the RJU, Vladimir Solovyov. His words are cited by TASS.

“The Secretary General of the International Federation of Journalists, Anthony Bellanger, sent me a letter informing that the membership of the Russian Journalists' Union is suspended,” said Solovyov.

The federation initiated the process to suspend the Union's membership and expel it from the federation at the end of January. This was preceded by accusations against the organization from journalistic unions in Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. Specifically, they accused the leadership of the International Federation of Journalists of “corruption,” “non-democratic practices,” and “unethical financial transactions.” They also condemned the organization for allowing representatives of Russian media to retain their membership in the federation after the outbreak of military operations in Ukraine.

In an interview with RTVI, Solovyov noted that the deputy secretary general of the federation, Jeremy Deer, “categorically denied all the accusations from the northern unions.”

At the beginning of February, the International Federation of Journalists stated that the reason for the suspension of the Russian Journalists' Union was the opening of branches in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The press release indicated that the executive committee of the organization “unanimously accepted this decision as a condemning initiative and the procedure for suspension of membership, as provided in Article 16 of the federation's charter, has come into force.”

The Russian Journalists' Union has been a member of the International Federation of Journalists since 1995.