San Francisco Frontiers - Navalny widow, media watchdog to launch TV channel

The channel, named Future of Russia, will be broadcast via the Svoboda Satellite project, which is available across Russia, Reporters Without Borders said.

The channel will launch on Wednesday, June 4, the day Navalny would have turned 49.

In March, the media watchdog, known by its French acronym RSF, launched a package of satellite news channels catering to Russia, much of it produced by Russian journalists forced to leave the country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The Svoboda package is available to 4.5 million households in Russia and around 800,000 households in occupied Ukraine, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Jim Phillipoff, project director of Svoboda Satellite, said cooperation was first proposed by Navalny's right-hand man Leonid Volkov.

"Then we jointly created this concept," he told AFP. "But only recently did we receive the funding to make it possible," Phillipoff added.

"Because there is no independent news in Russia it is all the more important to have alternative viewpoints," he said.

He said that Russia relied on satellite for about 45 percent of television reception.

"The majority of the satellite signals are provided through the French company, Eutelsat, our partner in this project," he added.

The charismatic Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's main opponent, suddenly died in an Arctic penal colony on February 16, 2024. His family and supporters say he was killed on orders from Putin.

His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has vowed to continue Navalny's fight from exile.

Navalny had been a thorn in the Kremlin's side for a decade by probing corruption among officials and leading large protests throughout Russia.

He peppered the internet with slickly produced videos, all beginning with his laconic catchphrase "Privet, eto Navalny!" ("Hi, this is Navalny!").

"We will use much of the content that they are currently producing for their YouTube channels, Popular Politics, Navalny Live, Alexei Navalny and others," Phillipoff said, referring to the late politician's team in exile.

"We are also discussing ideas for exclusive content for the channel, but we don't produce any content ourselves."

After Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has outlawed all forms of public dissent and banned independent media.

With all top Kremlin critics either behind bars or in exile, Navalny's legacy has been fading in Russia.

N.Wilson--SFF