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Proekt, IStories, The Insider, Bellingcat, Navalny’s team launch Samizdat app, allowing to view investigations without VPN

Russia’s independent media outlets Proekt, IStories, The Insider, Bellingcat, and Alexey Navalny’s team have announced launching a smartphone app granting access to their investigations without a VPN service. The app is called Samizdat and is available for Apple and Android devices.

“We are launching a free mobile app safe from being blocked [by Russia’s censorship]. In this app, you will be able to read all investigations by Proekt, IStories, The Insider, Bellingcat, and Alexey Navalny’s team in Russia without a VPN service,” reads the joint statement.

The journalists describe the app as a “blockage-free aggregator collecting all essential investigations created in the Russian language in one place.” It is being noted that the Samizdat app has no joint management or editorial policy. Each outlet will be responsible for their own publications.

“The crisis we are now having isn’t the first one of a kind in the history of Russia’s journalism. There were moments in the past when it seemed as if our profession was stripped of its future. In the Soviet Union, they would put people into jail. Twenty years ago the authorities brought the TV under their umbrella, and they did the same thing with print media ten years ago. All this seemed to be the end of Russia’s journalism, but it was not. True journalism has always found a solution. We are certain that the current oppression will only make us stronger!” reads the statement.

The journalists have also called on other independent media to join the Samizdat project.

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