MediaZona

Mediazona
Type of site
News website
Available inRussian
OwnerPyotr Verzilov
Created byNadezhda Tolokonnikova,
Maria Alyokhina
EditorSergey Smirnov (main editor)
URLzona.media
CommercialYes
RegistrationNone
LaunchedSeptember 4, 2014; 12 years ago (2014-09-04)
Current statusActive
Content license
Proprietary

Mediazona is a Russian website. Two girls from the Russian punk rock collective Pussy Riot (Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova) made it in 2014. Russian political journalist Sergey Smirnov is the main editor of the website.

Mediazona gives information on the judicial, law enforcement, and penal system in Russia. Since 2020 the site gives such news on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus too.

Mediazona has a Russian media license, but Tolokonnikova said in 2016 that it could be taken away at any time.

The site of Mediazona can't be opened in Belarus. In February 2025, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus recognized Mediazona Belarus as an extremist group.

On 30 January 2021, the main editor of Mediazona Sergey Smirnov was locked up by the police.

Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
Sergey Smirnov, editor-in-chief, in 2017

References

  1. ↑ "Pussy Riot Members Launch Independent Russian News Service – SPIN". 5 September 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "Russian police detain Pussy Riot sympathizers in cathedral". Reuters. February 21, 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 Barcella, Laura. "Two Pussy Riot Members Start a News Service". Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "What Life Is Like in a Prison Camp in the Donetsk People's Republic – VICE – United States". 20 July 2015. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Pussy Riot founder sets sites on Russian media". 9 May 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2016 – via Reuters.
  6. ↑ Sologub, Nikita (9 March 2015). "Under suspicion: death in a Siberian cell". Retrieved 22 November 2016 – via The Guardian.
  7. ↑ Штейн, Евгения (2020-08-29). "В Беларуси заблокировали «Нашу Нiву» и naviny.by, журналистов иностранных СМИ лишают аккредитации" (in Russian). Onliner.by. Archived from the original on 2020-09-29. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  8. ↑ "В Белоруссии заблокировали несколько десятков информационных сайтов. Среди них — "Радио Свобода" и "Медиазона"" [Several Dozen of Independent Media Websites Blocked in Belarus, Including Radio Freedom and Mediazone] (in Russian). Meduza. 2020-08-22. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  9. ↑ "В Беларуси объявили «экстремистским формированием» издание «Медиазона. Беларусь»". Meduza (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  10. ↑ "В Москве задержали главреда «Медиазоны»". rbc.ru. 30 January 2021.

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