# Sota.Vision

Sota.vision (SOTA) is a Russian independent news outlet. SOTA was started by a former reporter of Grani.ru, Alexandra Ageeva, who created her own YouTube channel to cover the most dramatic events involving Russian opposition activities in Moscow. These included rallies in support of Alexei Navalny, Bolotnaya Square case, and pickets condemning Russia's meddling in Ukraine.

## History

The website was launched in 2015 by Alexandra Ageeva and Oleg Elanchik, who later became its editor in chief. Later in 2015 SOTA was officially registered as a certified media outlet, and the company soon started its own social media accounts.
The site mainly covers protests inside the country. SOTA's biggest focus is the opposition agenda, both in the capital and beyond.
Sota.vision has a network of reporters operating not only in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but the other regions of Russia.
The resource also collaborates with a large journalist pool stationed outside the country, for example, in Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Ukraine and the USA. Its reporters cover mainly anti-military and protest themes related to Russia.
SOTA was the only media broadcasting global rallies in support of Alexey Navalny, which took place in more than 60 spots around the world.
Last December Sota.Vision was nominated for the annual reward Reporters Without Borders. Independent internet platform Sota.Vision is described as one of few survivors among independent democratic media left in the Russian Federation. Its reporters have to work in tough political conditions, covering the political and social events inside the country, given that some of court trails pose substantial threat for the journalists themselves. Their YouTube and Telegram channels have become one of the main information souses for many people, including those who fled Russia. It would be important to mention that Sota appeared to be the only media from the RF, that gained this nomination.

## Prosecution

On 26 November 2021, Oleg Elanchik, chief editor, was proclaimed a foreign agent, a status close to extremism in modern Russia.
During a live broadcast in September 2022 from the streets in Moscow, Artem Kriger, a journalist at the SOTA news site, was given a draft summons after being arrested while covering anti-mobilisation protests in Moscow.
On February 11, 2022, Sota.vision founder Alexandra Ageeva also became a foreign agent.
In October 2022, acting editor in chief of the SOTA publication, politician Yevgeny Domozhirov, was put on the wanted list.
In January 2023 police in Moscow detained the two reporters Sota.vision while they reported on a local government meeting. Authorities accused the journalists of disrupting the meeting and charged them with disorderly conduct. Next day, a Moscow court ordered them both to be detained for 15 days. This is the maximum penalty under the Russian administrative code.
In June 2023, Sota.vision was added to the list of "foreign agents" by the Russian Ministry of Justice.
In March 2024, Russian authorities arrested Antonina Favorskaya, who worked for Sota.vision and filmed the last video of Alexei Navalny before his death.

## Breakup and crisis

Because of plausible prosecution, Alexandra Ageeva took the decision to move to Riga. By this time SOTA had already gained over 300.000 followers and significantly extended its reporters’ network, with 40 people collaborating with the project.
In May 2022, Alexey Obukhov, a former employee, refused to return access to a number of resources of the publication, which was temporarily entrusted to him by the owner due to the move.
On May 28, 2022, a statement about the division of the editorial board appeared on the SOTA telegram channel. This unilateral statement was made after the owner, editor-in-chief and other employees were removed from the admins of the Telegram channel.
On June 19, 2022, a SOTA editorial statement «They didn't share the orange, it was just with ... shared» was published about the seizure of resources of the publication.
However, by the summer of 2022, SOTA partly regained its resources (except Telegram) with the aid of major social media companies like Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and new telegram.