# Incidents in Europe, national level Each incident is a dated action by a government, an official, a regulator, a court or a legislature that limited journalists' ability to gather or publish news. The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct. Filters: country, continent, tactic, stage, from, to, level, actor, leader, outlet, outcome, source_kind, has_case, plus q, sort (date, date_asc, country, tactic, relevance), per_page (up to 100), page and view (table or cards), as query parameters. 40 incidents match this view. - 4 August 2026: [Russia: law on asset freezes and service denials for exiled "foreign agents", August 2026](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-russia-new-law-targets-exiled-journalists-assets). On August 4, 2026, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed a law, adopted unanimously by the Russian parliament on July 24, 2026, that allows the authorities to freeze bank accounts, block property and vehicle sales and deny consul… - 5 September 2025: [Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-serbia-police-target-journalists-protests). The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 28 Serbian journalists reporting being struck, detained, sprayed with chemical irritants or having their equipment destroyed by police between June and September 2025 while covering… - 20 June 2024: [Slovakia's parliament dissolves public broadcaster RTVS, replaces it with STVR](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-slovakia-dissolves-rtvs-creates-stvr). Slovakia's parliament, controlled by Prime Minister Robert Fico's coalition, dissolved public broadcaster RTVS and replaced it with a new entity, STVR, whose director is now chosen through a process giving parliament and the culture minist… - 20 December 2023: [Hungary: National Sovereignty Protection Act and Sovereignty Protection Office, December 2023](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-hungary-sovereignty-protection-act). On December 20, 2023, the president of Hungary, Katalin Novák, promulgated the National Sovereignty Protection Act, passed by the National Assembly, Hungary's parliament, during the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán. The law c… - 29 March 2023: [Russia: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2024-russia-sentences-gershkovich). Russia arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in March 2023 on an espionage charge his employer called fabricated, held him for about 15 months before a closed trial, and sentenced him to 16 years before releasing him in a… - 15 February 2023: [Russia: journalist Maria Ponomarenko is sentenced to six years for reporting on a Mariupol strike](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-russia-ponomarenko-fake-news-sentence). A Russian court sentenced journalist Maria Ponomarenko to six years in prison and a five-year ban on journalism under a law criminalizing "false information" about the military, after she published a Telegram post about an airstrike on a M… - 8 February 2023: [Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut sentenced to eight years](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-belarus-sentences-poczobut). Belarus sentenced Polish-Belarusian correspondent Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions, after holding him since March 2021. He was freed five years later in a multi-country priso… - 8 February 2023: [Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut is sentenced to eight years for inciting hatred](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-belarus-poczobut-eight-year-sentence). A Belarusian court sentenced dual Belarusian-Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions, and he was freed three years later as part of a multi-country prisoner exchan… - 5 September 2022: [Russia: journalist Ivan Safronov is sentenced to 22 years for treason](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-safronov-treason-sentence). A Russian court sentenced military correspondent Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison for treason, accusing him of spying for a foreign state, in a case his supporters linked to his 2019 reporting on Russian arms sales to Egypt. - 5 September 2022: [Russia: a Moscow court suspends Novaya Gazeta's print license](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-suspends-novaya-gazeta-license). A Moscow court suspended the print license of Novaya Gazeta, whose editor Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, after the media regulator Roskomnadzor said the paper had not provided documents about a 2006 change of ownership. - 16 June 2022: [Russia: entry bans, visa restrictions and bureau closures for foreign correspondents](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-bars-entry-foreign-journalists). Over several months in 2022, Russian authorities closed a Canadian broadcaster's Moscow bureau, barred dozens of named British and Australian journalists from entering the country, and suspended simplified visa rules for European journalis… - 18 May 2022: [Russia: CBC/Radio-Canada bureau closed and journalists' visas cancelled](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-expels-cbc-cancels-visas). Russian authorities ordered the Canadian broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada's Moscow bureau closed and cancelled its journalists' visas and accreditation, part of a wave of expulsions and non-renewals of foreign correspondents after the invasion… - 9 March 2022: [Belarus: Deutsche Welle and other outlets labeled 'extremist'](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-belarus-labels-dw-extremist). A Minsk court declared all output from German broadcaster Deutsche Welle "extremist," alongside a local newspaper and a Russian blogger's videos, making it a crime to produce, store or share the labeled material, as a former correspondent… - 4 March 2022: [Russia: regulator blocks BBC Russian, Deutsche Welle and other outlets](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-blocks-bbc-dw-meduza). Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor blocked access nationwide to the websites of BBC Russian, Deutsche Welle, Meduza, Voice of America's Russian service and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty within days of invading Ukraine, alongside new p… - 4 March 2022: [Russia criminalizes 'fake' reporting on the military, up to 15 years in prison](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-russia-criminalizes-fake-war-reports). Russia's parliament passed a law criminalizing the publication of information about the military that contradicts official statements, with penalties up to 15 years in prison, prompting Novaya Gazeta to pull its Ukraine war coverage and th… - July 2021: [Hungary: investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi's phone is infected with Pegasus spyware](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-hungary-panyi-pegasus-spyware). Amnesty International found forensic traces of Pegasus spyware on the phone of Direkt36 investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi, who covers Hungarian national security and diplomacy, as part of the wider Pegasus Project investigation. - 18 May 2021: [Belarus blocks Tut.by and arrests its editors as 'extremist'](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-belarus-blocks-tutby-arrests-staff). Belarusian authorities blocked access to Tut.by, the country's most-read independent news site, searched its offices in three cities and arrested at least eleven staff, including its editor-in-chief, citing alleged media-law violations aft… - 23 April 2021: [Russia: independent outlet Meduza designated a 'foreign agent'](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-russia-designates-meduza-foreign-agent). Russia's Justice Ministry labeled the independent news site Meduza and outlet PASMI "foreign agents," a status requiring constant public disclosure, quarterly reports and audits, and carrying up to two years in prison for noncompliance, wh… - April 2021: [Poland: state oil company Orlen buys the Polska Press newspaper group](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-poland-orlen-buys-polska-press). Poland's state-controlled oil company PKN Orlen completed the purchase of Polska Press, a group of 20 regional newspapers reaching millions of readers, from its German owner, over objections from Poland's human rights commissioner. - 14 February 2021: [Hungary: Klubradio loses its terrestrial broadcast license over its tender application](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-hungary-klubradio-loses-broadcast-license). Hungary's Media Council ended Klubradio's decades-old terrestrial broadcast license, citing errors in its renewal application, after the station had built a following as one of the country's few remaining independent voices. - 29 August 2020: [Belarus: accreditation withdrawn from 17 journalists working for foreign outlets](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-belarus-strips-accreditation-foreign-outlets). Belarus's government revoked the accreditation of at least 17 journalists working for foreign outlets, including the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press, Radio Liberty, AFP and Deutsche Welle, as they covered protests after a disputed presi… - 24 July 2020: [Hungary: editor fired and staff resign at Index.hu](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-hungary-index-hu-editor-fired). Index.hu, Hungary's most-read independent news site, fired editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull weeks after he warned that a change in ownership threatened its independence. Most of the newsroom resigned within days. - 30 March 2020: [Hungary criminalizes false coronavirus information and grants Orban decree powers](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-hungary-coronavirus-fake-news-law). Hungary's parliament passed an emergency coronavirus law allowing prison terms of up to five years for spreading information the government deemed false or distorted about the pandemic, and let Prime Minister Viktor Orban rule by decree fo… - 7 March 2019: [Russia: new laws penalize online "fake news" and "disrespecting authorities"](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-russia-fake-news-disrespect-law). Russia's parliament passed laws letting courts jail and fine people, including journalists, for posting information the government alone judges to be false, or for statements found to disrespect officials or state symbols online. - 29 November 2018: [Hungary: formation of the KESMA pro-government media foundation](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-hungary-kesma-media-merger). Owners aligned with Hungary's governing party donated 476 outlets into one non-profit foundation, KESMA. The government exempted the merger from the antitrust review that would normally apply to a combination of that size. - 26 October 2018: [Russia: outlet fined $338,000 under the foreign agents law](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-russia-fines-the-new-times). A Moscow court fined the magazine The New Times 22.3 million rubles, about $338,000, for a paperwork lapse under Russia's foreign agents law, a sum its editor said was designed to force the outlet to close. - February 2017: [Malta: minister orders reporter's bank account frozen](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2017-malta-freezes-caruana-galizia-account). A month after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia published reporting on members of Malta's government, the economy minister had her bank account frozen, one of dozens of legal actions she faced before she was killed in a car bombing in Octo… - 31 December 2015: [Poland's new government gains power to replace public broadcaster leadership, and journalists are dismissed](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2015-poland-public-media-law-firings). Weeks after winning power, Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party passed a law letting the treasury minister directly appoint and dismiss the heads of public radio and television, and dozens of journalists at the public broadcaster were subs… - 18 August 2013: [United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2013-uk-miranda-detention-guardian-hard-drives). British authorities detained David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for nine hours at Heathrow Airport under anti-terrorism powers, and separately had Guardian staff destroy hard drives holding files leaked by Edwar… - 21 December 2010: [Hungary's parliament gives a government-appointed media council power to fine outlets for unbalanced coverage](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2010-hungary-media-law-content-authority). Hungary's parliament, controlled by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, passed a media law creating a government-appointed National Media and Infocommunications Authority empowered to fine any outlet, print, broadcast or online, fo… - 7 October 2006: [Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in Moscow; a former police officer is later convicted of organizing the killing](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2006-russia-politkovskaya-killed). Anna Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta journalist known for reporting critical of Russia's conduct of the war in Chechnya, was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building; a Moscow court later convicted a former police officer of organizing su… - 14 April 2001: [State-controlled Gazprom takes formal control of Russia's independent NTV television network](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2001-russia-gazprom-takeover-ntv). Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas company, used debts owed by NTV's parent company to take control of the country's last major independent television network at a shareholders' meeting, replacing its owner and top editors with its own… - 20 October 1998: [Serbia's Public Information Act lets courts fine independent newspapers into financial danger](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-serbia-public-information-act-fines). Serbia's parliament passed a Public Information Act allowing courts to levy same-day fines against newspapers for vaguely defined offenses against the state's interests, and independent papers were fined far more often and more heavily tha… - October 1988: [United Kingdom bars broadcasters from airing Sinn Féin members' own voices](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1988-uk-broadcasting-ban-sinn-fein). Home Secretary Douglas Hurd directed British broadcasters in October 1988 not to air the voices of representatives of Sinn Féin, a party linked to the Irish Republican Army, and other groups linked to violence in Northern Ireland. Broadcas… - 13 December 1981: [Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1981-poland-martial-law-press-suspended). On December 13, 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland, cutting phone and telex lines, suspending nearly all newspapers, and interning thousands of people, most Solidarity trade union journalists among them, withi… - 21 August 1968: [Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia is followed by the return of government press controls](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1968-czechoslovakia-normalization-censorship). Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20-21, 1968 to end the Prague Spring, a period of liberalization under Alexander Dubček that had included the lifting of press controls. In the invasion's aftermath, the new le… - April 1938: [Franco's Spain requires state permission to be a journalist under a wartime Press Law](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1938-spain-franco-press-law). While Spain's civil war continued, the Nationalist government led by Francisco Franco enacted a Press Law in April 1938 requiring government permission to found a newspaper, work as a journalist or direct a paper, alongside continued pre-p… - 4 October 1933: [Nazi Germany's Editors Law bars Jewish journalists from the press and puts editors under state direction](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1933-germany-editors-law). Nine months after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, Germany's Schriftleitergesetz, or Editors Law, required journalists to register with a new state-controlled Reich Press Chamber and barred non-Aryans from the profession, while directing ed… - 1933: [Portugal's Salazar government formally establishes press controls under a new constitution](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1933-portugal-salazar-formal-censorship). Portugal's government, led by Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar, had restricted the press since a 1926 military coup while officially denying it did so. In 1933, alongside a new constitution promising freedom of expression, the go… - 1922: [Soviet Russia creates Glavlit, a central office to review all printed material before publication](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1922-ussr-glavlit-censorship). In 1922, under Vladimir Lenin's government, Soviet Russia created Glavlit, a single agency with final authority to review newspapers, books, plays and even posters before they could be printed or performed. By 1930 no publication in the So… Download this view. CSV, JSON or Markdown. 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