A list of BBC reporters working in Russia has been leaked online, along with their photographs, amid growing pressure on the broadcaster in Russia.
The list of 44 journalists, most of them Russian citizens, appears to have first been published in the anonymously run For Mother Russia group on the social network VKontakte. It was then reprinted by a rightwing Russian news website with photographs culled from the journalists’ social media profiles and other public sources.
The independent TV Rain also reported a version of the list that had been released on the Russian site Pikabu, which resembles Reddit.
The leak of accredited journalists comes a week after Russia said it would launch an investigation into the BBC for violating fairness standards.
Kremlin officials said the investigation was a response to an Ofcom ruling that the state-backed RT (formerly Russia Today) had violated impartiality rules after the Salisbury poisoning incident and risked “statutory sanctions”, including possible fines or a loss of licence.
The leak of BBC journalists also appears to be a retaliation. The Sunday Times last week published a list of names and photographs of eight reporters working for the Moscow-backed Sputnik’s UK bureau in Edinburgh. Russian officials reacted angrily, saying the report put Sputnik’s journalists in danger.
A BBC spokesperson expressed frustration at the leak: “The BBC has strict editorial guidelines and has not published the details of journalists from other media organisations as there was no editorial reason or justification to do so. We are disappointed at the groundless publication of our Moscow team’s details.”
In a post accompanying the leak of BBC journalists, an anonymous administrator of the For Mother Russia Vkontakte group attacked the Sunday Times article for attempting to put “psychological pressure” on Russian journalists.
The user then added: “Combining several sources, we present you a list of fablers and dreamers from the Moscow bureau of the BBC.”
It was not clear where the leak of Russian BBC reporters came from, although the information appears to have come from official documentation. The list only includes BBC employees accredited with the Russian government. The journalists are identified by their legal names, which in some cases differ from their bylines.
Most of the 44 reporters are Russian citizens who work for the BBC World Service, which has expanded its operations in Russia significantly in the past two years, hiring some of the country’s best journalistic talent.