Thanks so much.
The presence of exiled Russian media is not new; it's just being magnified now because of this sort of conflict. We've had very effective Russian investigative reporters doing work on Putin's corruption, holding investigations of Yevgeny Prigozhin and what he's been doing in Africa. Dossier and Proekt, these organizations that are based overseas expose some of the most devastating inner secrets. In fact, a New York Times reporter, when he reported on Prigozhin, had much of the same information that these Russian exile reporters reported months before.
First of all, we can support them financially. Groups like Meduza, like Nexta—let's not leave Belarus out of here—have been so key in mobilizing against Lukashenko. Certainly, TV Rain, which is now shut down in Russia and is operating from outside, is one.
We have to anticipate what's going to be, at some point, the Russian reaction to this, which is to engage in more transnational repression. I will say that transnational repression is the kind of systematic targeting of political opponents, journalism, civil society, business community, of co-nationals overseas. Actually, this use of disinformation against diaspora communities is one aspect of this. It could also be actual attempts at assassination, rendition, coercion, or intimidation of family members.
The Russians are going to have a real problem because they're going to see all of these communities increasingly engaged to break down this disinformation wall and they are likely to target them. We need to be aware of how we can protect them, not only by supporting them, but also by realizing the status that these exiles and diasporas have as communities of interest of the crimes.