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Khodorkovsky Launches New Media After Open Russia Ban

Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg)

Russia’s exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has launched a new media website after authorities blocked access to the site of his blacklisted pro-democracy NGO. 

Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked access to the website of the Open Russia NGO earlier this month “for inciting protests and destabilizing the domestic political situation.”

“I regret to announce that Open Russia’s editorial team is beginning work on a new project — MBKh Media,” Khodorkovsky wrote in a post on the new website on Wednesday. 

Groups handed the “undesirable organization” label under a 2015 law are immediately banned in Russia and its employees face prison terms. 

Khodorkovsky said that Open Russia was targeted after it promised to publicize all journalistic investigations into the members of the “organized criminal group” in the Kremlin. 

Writing on MBKh Media, Khodorkovsky said that he would not let the blow go unanswered and promised to release an investigation on "a certain individual" in early 2018. 

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