(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) – Leading Russian newspapers on Sunday made no reference to the second anniversary of the death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny or to Western findings alleging that he was killed with a toxic substance.
A review of national and regional media, including Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Kommersant, Izvestia, Komsomolskaya Pravda and Moskovsky Komsomolets, found no mention of either the anniversary or the investigation.
The silence followed an announcement in Munich at the Munich Security Conference, where investigators from the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands said Navalny had been exposed to a poison derived from a dart frog toxin.
Instead of covering the findings, several papers focused on domestic features and lifestyle stories. Some publications promoted free seed packets for home gardening and seasonal household advice.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta emphasised what it described as divisions among Western allies and reported alleged Russian gains in Ukraine, without referring to Navalny.
Kommersant and Izvestia carried commentaries accusing European governments of seeking to prolong the war. These articles claimed that Western leaders were committed to maintaining pressure on Moscow and supporting Kyiv.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta argued that the Munich conference had exposed long standing disagreements within the Euro Atlantic alliance. It said relations between Europe and the United States had deteriorated, particularly during the presidency of Donald Trump.
One opinion column questioned whether the values of the United States and the European Union still aligned and asked what role remained for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Domestic policy also featured prominently. From 1 March, Russia will introduce restrictions on films and television programmes deemed to undermine traditional moral and spiritual values.
Under the new rules, citizens will be able to file complaints against content they consider inappropriate. These complaints may lead to inspections by the Ministry of Culture.
Online platforms will be required to remove disputed material within 24 hours at the request of Roskomnadzor, or face sanctions.
Several commentators warned that the policy amounted to the institutionalisation of public denunciation and a further expansion of censorship.
Economic concerns were also widely reported. Newspapers noted rising petrol prices and higher utility charges despite low seasonal demand.
In online residential forums, residents continued to discuss rising household bills. In some cases, payments were reported to have doubled compared with last year.
Moskovsky Komsomolets published a satirical cartoon suggesting that customers paying utility bills might soon receive calls from banks checking whether they were victims of fraud, reflecting growing public anxiety over living costs.