The New York Times said on Tuesday that it was temporarily removing its journalists from Russia in the wake of harsh new legislation that effectively outlaws independent reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia’s new legislation seeks to criminalize independent, accurate news reporting about the war against Ukraine. For the safety and security of our editorial staff working in the region, we are moving them out of the country for now,” a spokeswoman for The Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said in a statement.
“We look forward to them returning as soon as possible while we monitor the application of the new law,” Ms. Rhoades Ha said. “We will continue our live, robust coverage of the war and our rigorous reporting on Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and these attempts to stifle independent journalism.”
The decision by The Times comes after several major English-language news organizations, including Bloomberg News and the BBC, suspended their journalistic operations in Russia in response to the new law passed by President Vladimir V. Putin’s government. Under the legislation, journalists who describe the war as a “war” could be sentenced to prison.
The Washington Post said previously that it would remove author names and reporting locations from certain articles written by its Russia-based staff.
