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Anton Cherepennikov has had quite the career and he's not yet 40. A decade ago, he partnered with Alexey Kolesnikov, one of the best eSports players in Russia, to form a premiere team that grew into a briefly profitable business, training players and drawing major sponsorships before it attracted a massive investment from the oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Cherepennikov's greatest impact as a businessman, however, hasn't been in competitive computer gaming but in the cybersecurity industry, where he founded a holding company called "Citadel" that now controls most of the manufacturing for Russia's key surveillance technology: "SORM." In a report for the news outlet Baza, sources told journalist Andrey Kaganskikh that Cherepennikov is not, in fact, an independent figure in the SORM market, calling him "an avatar for Alisher Usmanov's business interests." Cherepennikov insists that he is a "self-made" entrepreneur, and he's spent the past several years trying hard to distance himself from the oligarch. Meduza summarizes Baza's profile of Cherepennikov.

2021 has been a bad year for Russian journalism. Numerous independent media outlets were declared "foreign agents," security officials raided the homes of reporters and editors, several media projects shut down entirely, and dozens of journalists left the country, fearing unlawful persecution. Meduza (the news site you're reading right now) was labeled a "foreign agent" in April, which forced us to restructure our operations. To stay afloat, we launched a crowdfunding campaign and a merch shop. We and other journalists need your support more than ever. Luckily, it's easy to make a contribution. In September, the brand Friend Function collaborated with Meduza to launch a special collection of clothes and accessories called "Pressa" (the Russian word for "the press") -- for those who believe in freedom of speech and want to show solidarity with independent newsrooms. We also asked our colleagues why they continue to work as journalists, in spite of it all. Here's what they told us.

Russia's federal media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has refused to register the website Gubernia Media as a news outlet on the grounds that its editor-in-chief, Denis Kamalyagin, has been designated as "foreign agent." Journalists learned about the agency's position from records filed in Kamalyagin's lawsuit against Roskomnadzor. Officials argue that July 2021 amendments to Article 19.1 of Russia's mass media law prohibit foreign states, nationals, and organizations from establishing any form of control or influence over a media outlet's founders or editorial board.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko have inked a package of 28 "union programs" aimed at integrating their two countries.

Dutch journalist Tom Vennink, a Moscow correspondent for the newspaper de Volkskrant, has been expelled from Russia. In an interview with de Volkskrant, Vennink said that on Monday, November 1, the Russian authorities gave him three days to leave the country.

Two ex-convicts who were recently in prison with Alexey Navalny have described to journalists how officials bully and try to demoralize the opposition politician. Former inmates Nariman Osmanov and Evgeny Burak told Dozhd television that prisoners at Pokrov's Correctional Facility Number 2 were instructed not to speak to Navalny, to ensure that he remains socially isolated. To discourage interactions with Navalny, officials even screened a video for the inmates that depicted him as gay. In another attempt to torment Navalny after he returned from the hospital, prison officials allegedly deprived him of sleep for three nights by transferring an inmate to the neighboring cell and arranging for him to "make different sounds" until dawn.

The political bloc of the Moscow Mayor's office has begun campaign preparations for the 2022 municipal elections. As Meduza found out, the city administration plans to bet on public sector workers, who will run either as self-nominees or as members of the ruling party, United Russia. Candidates from systemic opposition parties will likely be able to campaign unhindered, but real oppositionists won't see their names on the ballot. And electronic voting, which proved deeply controversial during the 2021 State Duma elections, isn't going anywhere. Meduza breaks down the key points in the preliminary campaign plan here.

The Russian investigative outlet The Insider and its partner Bellingcat have published extracts from a criminal case that appear to corroborate that the data used in their joint investigation into the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny is the legitimate data of FSB agents.

Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and adviser to the head of Russia's space agency, has been in Moscow's Lefortovo remand prison for 15 months, awaiting trial for treason. The details of the charges against him remain practically unknown. Reportedly, investigators wrapped up their work at the end of October, and Safronov and his lawyers have been able to begin analyzing the case materials. During his 15 months in custody, Safronov hasn't been permitted a single visit or phone call with any of his family members, and for the last month he's also been banned from sending and receiving correspondence. Safronov was moved to a higher-security cell during the summer of 2021, and in early November he was transferred to punitive confinement for three days. Meduza traces the twists and turns of Ivan Safronov's time in jail.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry has declared the Polish-funded television channel Belsat an "extremist formation" and banned its activities in Belarus.