Screenshot of the YouTube video with Tikhon Dzyadko as an anchor from the YouTube channel TV Rain. Fair use.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine started in February 2022, the last media outlets in Russia that were opposed to the government and the invasion were blocked, and many journalists had to leave the country. Since that time, those outlets started to rely heavily on Western social media platforms, mostly YouTube, and new channels for news and opinion have appeared, which also use those platforms. 

Maxim Kournikov, editor of the Echo of Moscow website working from Berlin, said in an interview on the YouTube channel “Y Gryanul Grem”:

I’d say that independent media, which used to operate in Russia, mostly just changed their geographical location and adjusted their models of work. But in general, independent Russian-language media, which emerged back in the late 1980s in the Soviet Union, are still continuing their work today. I think this media environment is one of the key institutions of civil society. It emerged in time — even before the Russian Federation — and that likely helped it grow strong and influential in the 1990s. Later, despite pressure, especially from Vladimir Putin, who began his rule by cracking down on media, these media outlets kept working. Some of them, especially regional ones and individual journalists, are still active in Russia today. Without social media and new technologies, it would have been much harder to adapt. But even now, tens of millions of people inside Russia receive information from independent media — and that still has real influence.

The Russian government started blocking YouTube in 2024, and, by the first half of 2025, traffic to YouTube from Russia fell to just 20 percent of the previous levels. 

However, contrary to what the opposition journalists believed before, Western platforms had not helped them to get to the Russian audience. As Tikhon Dzyadko, the editor-in-chief of Dozhd (TV Rain) said in an interview to another opposition journalist in exile Dmitry Kolezev: 

I'm not a technical expert, but I'm absolutely convinced that if Big Tech spent a certain amount of resources — primarily intellectual ones — to bypass these blockings, they could easily do it. They just don’t want to. They claim that they’d have to enable some feature in the YouTube app, which is probably already built-in. I think in reality it's a bit more complicated, but still, the people who created and developed such giants as Apple, Google, etc., are obviously more initiative-taking and smarter than those working at Roskomnadzor [the Russian government censorship body] or the Russian Ministry of Justice.

So it’s not about whether they can do it. Sadly, they just don’t want to. All attempts — open letters, conversations in different formats with them or their representatives — have led to nothing over these past three years.

I think they simply don’t care. To be blunt, from what I understand, economically, it’s an insignificant market for them now. It’s a gray zone at best. It’s easier to avoid the hassle — they might have employees or relatives who could be taken hostage, so they just stay away. And that’s, of course, very sad in the context of the fact that almost three years of war and hundreds of thousands of casualties haven’t changed anything in their mindset. It's still: “It doesn't concern me, I won’t get involved.”

Despite YouTube being blocked in Russia, journalists of many political opposition channels on YouTube claim that they have not noticed the drop. Moreover, the fact that Russians are using VPNs to access these channels has grown their monetization on YouTube — at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Google had cut all the monetization of YouTube for Russia-based accounts. Dzyadko adds:

Strangely enough, the YouTube block in Russia actually helped us financially. Our monetization increased, as it did for everyone targeting a Russian-speaking audience. Many Russians moved to places like the Netherlands, Singapore, the US, Germany, etc., and continued watching us.

Apart from technical problems with access to the Russian-based audience, opposition media also encountered funding issues, when US President Trump’s administration stopped USAID funds. As Russian philanthropist living abroad Boris Zimin said in an interview to an online Russian opposition media Breakfast Show the day USAID funds were frozen, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and he announced they would help NGOs from Ukraine and Russian opposition media and NGOs abroad. Since a lot of them had lost a large part of their funding, these two Russian philanthropists in exile would make up part of the funds they lost, to keep them afloat for 90 days.

This happened over three months ago, and, at the moment, it is not known whether their fund continues doing it.  But, as Boris Zimin said: “We can't replace USAID — those are massive sums, billions.”

At the moment, it is not known which media will stop working altogether after losing US funds. However, many of the outlets have tried to add layers of extra sources of funding. For example, Dozhd (TV Rain), Breakfast Show, and Echo of Moscow (website and YouTube channels that work from Berlin and some from Moscow), are selling their own merch, such as t-shirts or baseball caps, books.  They also organize public meetings or concerts with their speakers and anchors for the Russian speaking audience abroad, selling tickets.  In addition, they urge people to subscribe (but only those abroad, because it is punishable to do so from Russia).

Recently, many media joined a call to help Mediazona, an outlet originally founded by Pussy Riot members, and devoted to human rights and political prisoners of the regime in Russia. Other media and many YouTube journalists had called for donations from listeners, because Mediazona said they would not survive till the end of 2025 unless they get 10,000 monthly subscribers. The campaign is still going on; at the moment the outlet has a bit over 5000 monthly subscribers. 

Dzyadko said in an interview to Kolezev before the USAID cuts were announced:

After the war began and Russian journalists started leaving the country, a huge number of new independent media outlets were created — dozens. Most are small and niche. With less grant money, not all of them will survive. That funding is now declining because a lot was given initially due to the exceptional circumstances of the war. Now, things are scaling back to normal levels. But the number of media outlets relying on that funding is much higher than before. So some niche outlets will have to restructure, merge with larger ones, or close down. That’s not a good development. The more diverse the media landscape, the better. But it’s unavoidable.

Maxim Kournikov described the financial situation of the foreign-based projects of Echo of Moscow:

Like for most exiled media it’s tough. We’re short on funds, but our audience is growing. We’re publishing books, holding events. We recently released a book on US–Russia relations in the 1990s, and soon will publish a book on the history of the Russian Orthodox Church under Gorbachev and Putin. We’re also traveling with lectures.

Dzyadko, on the other hand, highlights that opposition media now, more than ever, needs to rely on its audience for financial support. 

This might sound grandiose, but it's absolutely true: all of Dozhd’s prospects are in the hands of our viewers. When we ask for donations on air and say we operate thanks to you, that’s the absolute truth. Yes, part of the funding comes from international organizations. But that money isn’t forever — it’s inevitably limited. We’ve also started to get some advertising revenue, which is gradually increasing month by month, and that’s great. But what really allows us to plan ahead is knowing that we have our viewers who support us, primarily through recurring donations. That’s what lets us see a future.  

There are millions of Russian-speaking people around the world ready to support media they trust. You need to find the right format and tone to encourage that support — and keep it growing.