Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and journalists praised the launch of a TV channel designed to bypass Russian censorship and preserve the legacy of Kremlin critics.
The channel, called “Russia of the Future”, will be aired through a free air satellite platform operated by journalists without borders, known for its French abbreviation RSF.
Navalny’s team hopes to gain greater exposure and better influence with the help of satellite broadcasts, which will be made with content produced by Navalny’s team for its exiled YouTube channel.
“I think it will be a long collaboration,” Yulia Navalnaya told reporters in a brief statement in Paris.
Navalny’s team is doing “our best” to continue reaching Russians on YouTube, but the Kremlin often tries to stop Western platforms.
“Russia has almost all censorship, and under a dictatorship, it is difficult to spread information,” she said.
Since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has announced all forms of public objection and banned independent media and Western social media.
“We think it’s very important to attract as much Russian population as possible,” said Thibaut Bruttin, head of RSF.
The channel will be launched on Wednesday, June 4, and Navalny will turn 49.
Putin’s main opponent, the charming Navalny, died suddenly on February 16, 2024 in an Arctic criminal colony. His family and supporters said he was killed for Putin’s order.
Jim Phillipoff, director of Svoboda satellite project at RSF, said the channel is important because it is bringing content from the Navalny team to Russian-speaking broadcasters.
He described the Navani as combining the “glirtuosity and charm of Western television” with Soviet-style messaging in the years of opposition to the Kremlin propaganda.
“There is little way to significantly penetrate Russian traditional television spaces except satellites,” Phillipoff added.
He noted that about 45% of Russians use satellite signals to watch TV.
As all the top Kremlin critics are in prison or in exiles, Navani’s legacy has been disappearing in Russia.
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