VTIMES MEDIA PROJECT MAY BE CLOSED SOON

VTimes media project, created last year, may soon cease to exist. Last month, the Ministry of Justice recognized it as a foreign agent, and now the project management is considering the option of termination of the activities.

VTimes was founded by former journalists of Vedomosti, who left the media after a change of leadership.

The decision was motivated by the need for independent sources of information for Russia, while the new management of the media ‘abandoned the principles of quality journalism’.

Assistance in the creation of the VTimes media project was provided by the founder of Vedomosti, Derk Sauer. The domain was registered for the Stichting 2 Oktober non-profit organization, which he created in the Netherlands, reports RBC.

Later, Stichting 2 Oktober also fell out of favor with the Russian Ministry of Justice. It was on the list of media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent, although VTimes repeatedly noted that both organizations did not have the status of media outlets.

The result of adding a company to the list is, in particular, the loss of advertisers.

This was previously reported by Meduza, which faced a similar situation. The media was forced to sharply cut its costs, abandoning offices, additional projects and cutting the salaries of its employees. Now Meduza exists on donations from its readers.