Photo: Andrej Vasilenko for Monocle
Galina Timchenko is the co-founder, CEO, and publisher of Meduza — the largest independent Russian- and English-language publication that still reaches millions of people inside the country outlet and reports on the war in Ukraine. The newsroom has been operating successfully in exile for eight years already, with headquarters in Riga, Latvia. In April 2021, the Russian authorities designated Meduza as a “foreign agent”, and weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the government began blocking Meduza’s website outright. Finally, in January 2023, the Kremlin banned Meduza completely, declaring the outlet an illegal “undesirable organization”. However, Meduza keeps resisting and delivering information to its readers due to its diverse and technologically advanced infrastructure. Galina also served as the editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru media from 2004 until 2014.