«Zhivoy Region»
«Show people that they are not alone»
How Zhivoy Region became the only channel about anti-war protests in Bryansk
«Show people that they are not alone»
How Zhivoy Region became the only channel about anti-war protests in Bryansk
«Zhivoy Region»
Zhivoy Region is a small media outlet in Bryansk founded in 2019 by Alexander Markin, coordinator of Alexei Navalny’s local campaign office*. The project started with a YouTube channel about the city’s problems — now it has 5,700 subscribers. A few hundred more read Zhivoy Region’s channels in Telegram.
Since the outbreak of the war, Markin has positioned Zhivoy Region as the only independent media reporting on anti-war protests in the region.
Alexander left Russia back in late 2021 as a result of pressure by siloviki, law enforcement officers. The media project was frozen for a while, but it was relaunched on February 24, which was also supported by local residents.
Markin says that Bryansk is being painted as a region that unconditionally supports the hostilities. But every day Zhivoy Region proves that this is not the case.
* In Russia, Alexei Navalny’s offices were included in the list of extremist organizations
Since the outbreak of the war, Markin has positioned Zhivoy Region as the only independent media reporting on anti-war protests in the region.
Alexander left Russia back in late 2021 as a result of pressure by siloviki, law enforcement officers. The media project was frozen for a while, but it was relaunched on February 24, which was also supported by local residents.
Markin says that Bryansk is being painted as a region that unconditionally supports the hostilities. But every day Zhivoy Region proves that this is not the case.
* In Russia, Alexei Navalny’s offices were included in the list of extremist organizations
Zhivoy Region is a small media outlet in Bryansk founded in 2019 by Alexander Markin, coordinator of Alexei Navalny’s local campaign office*. The project started with a YouTube channel about the city’s problems — now it has 5,700 subscribers. A few hundred more read Zhivoy Region’s channels in Telegram.
Since the outbreak of the war, Markin has positioned Zhivoy Region as the only independent media reporting on anti-war protests in the region.
Alexander left Russia back in late 2021 as a result of pressure by siloviki, law enforcement officers. The media project was frozen for a while, but it was relaunched on February 24, which was also supported by local residents.
Markin says that Bryansk is being painted as a region that unconditionally supports the hostilities. But every day Zhivoy Region proves that this is not the case.
* In Russia, Alexei Navalny’s offices were included in the list of extremist organizations
Since the outbreak of the war, Markin has positioned Zhivoy Region as the only independent media reporting on anti-war protests in the region.
Alexander left Russia back in late 2021 as a result of pressure by siloviki, law enforcement officers. The media project was frozen for a while, but it was relaunched on February 24, which was also supported by local residents.
Markin says that Bryansk is being painted as a region that unconditionally supports the hostilities. But every day Zhivoy Region proves that this is not the case.
* In Russia, Alexei Navalny’s offices were included in the list of extremist organizations
Alexander Markin
Before the war
— When Navalny’s office was closed in Bryansk in November 2020, my friends and I created a YouTube channel called Zhivoy Region. We wanted to create a regional media outlet, but not exactly a news outlet. We didn’t have any continuous news agenda, but rather looked for some regional problems and wrote about them — about broken roads or picketing, for instance.
At the end of November 2021, I left Russia due to pressure from law enforcement. As I was the coordinator of Navalny’s office in Bryansk, I faced up to 10 years in prison in the big case over an extremist community. In addition, I received direct threats from employees of the Center for Combating Extremism. Before January, I tried not to appear in the public space: I wanted to settle down somewhere first, and then work on the project. At the very beginning of January, a friend of mine was summoned to a police office. It turned out that this was due to his participation in rallies. After that, I started working on Zhivoy Region again.
I did not sleep all night of February 23 to 24, and in the morning, I began to write news about the war — first, on my social media accounts, and then on the social media pages of Zhivoy Region. It so happened that I’ve been the only person involved in this project recently. At first there were three of us, then we were two, and then, ultimately, there was just me. People from Bryansk send me information, I work on it and write posts.
At the end of November 2021, I left Russia due to pressure from law enforcement. As I was the coordinator of Navalny’s office in Bryansk, I faced up to 10 years in prison in the big case over an extremist community. In addition, I received direct threats from employees of the Center for Combating Extremism. Before January, I tried not to appear in the public space: I wanted to settle down somewhere first, and then work on the project. At the very beginning of January, a friend of mine was summoned to a police office. It turned out that this was due to his participation in rallies. After that, I started working on Zhivoy Region again.
I did not sleep all night of February 23 to 24, and in the morning, I began to write news about the war — first, on my social media accounts, and then on the social media pages of Zhivoy Region. It so happened that I’ve been the only person involved in this project recently. At first there were three of us, then we were two, and then, ultimately, there was just me. People from Bryansk send me information, I work on it and write posts.
Turning point
— Since February 24, I’ve been writing about how Bryansk is protesting. Since the beginning of the war, people have been active in sending me materials — they do need a place to collect information about the city without censorship. Judging by the amount of feedback, I see that many people are against the war. But some people don’t really understand what can be done in these circumstances, as they are intimidated. But even when an "increased level of terrorist threat" was announced in the Bryansk region, people continued to glue leaflets and tie green ribbons.
When [the Youtube channel] Redaktsiya issued a long report about Bryansk, I tweeted a thread saying that a lot of people were protesting in the city: people picketed, were fined, then had problems at work. A person hung a leaflet on his window only to see a police truck coming to his home and ten policemen pounding on his door. And Alexei Pivovarov’s Redaktsiya said nothing at all about these people.
After this thread, people began to send information even more actively. New posts about new leaflets and green ribbons appearing here and there in the city are published almost every day in Zhivoy Region. Protest activity in the city is on the rise even to compare with 2014. I was only 15 years old back then, and I felt that everyone around me supported the war, and I didn’t see any platform that would aggregate opposition content and show people that they are not alone, as Zhivoy Region is doing now.
When [the Youtube channel] Redaktsiya issued a long report about Bryansk, I tweeted a thread saying that a lot of people were protesting in the city: people picketed, were fined, then had problems at work. A person hung a leaflet on his window only to see a police truck coming to his home and ten policemen pounding on his door. And Alexei Pivovarov’s Redaktsiya said nothing at all about these people.
After this thread, people began to send information even more actively. New posts about new leaflets and green ribbons appearing here and there in the city are published almost every day in Zhivoy Region. Protest activity in the city is on the rise even to compare with 2014. I was only 15 years old back then, and I felt that everyone around me supported the war, and I didn’t see any platform that would aggregate opposition content and show people that they are not alone, as Zhivoy Region is doing now.
Pressure
— Before the war, I was threatened by a lieutenant colonel of the Center for Combating Extremism because of [my participation in] a rally in support of Navalny. He threatened me both with prison and abuse, saying that he would piss in my mouth. When people began to protest and to picket, he spoke at a meeting together with Governor Bogomazov and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Regional Office. They said that there were foreign instigators in the region, as well as various unreliable individuals fomenting unrest. I think that it was just another intimidation on their part.
Some Bryansk media wrote that I was in Turkey coordinating mass unrest in our region. But the only subject I cover is peaceful protests, pickets, leaflets. I’m a bit afraid of surveillance abroad due to severe threats on behalf of that lieutenant colonel.
Some Bryansk media wrote that I was in Turkey coordinating mass unrest in our region. But the only subject I cover is peaceful protests, pickets, leaflets. I’m a bit afraid of surveillance abroad due to severe threats on behalf of that lieutenant colonel.
Future
— My plan is to transform Zhivoy Region into a regional media. Perhaps it will be a different project. I’m planning to draft a clear concept and to create a new team in the conditions that we have to face.
My main wish is for our media to have no censorship. This is the most important thing. I want to continue telling the truth and pushing for change — in my region and in the whole country.
My main wish is for our media to have no censorship. This is the most important thing. I want to continue telling the truth and pushing for change — in my region and in the whole country.
