Independent Crimean broadcaster raided by Russian security agents

Dozens of Russian investigators and masked security agents armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles raided the newsroom of ATR in the regional capital Simferopol and confiscated its servers and reporting files fromjournalists’ computers, according to regional and international press. ATR’s analog broadcasting was temporarily suspended, news reports said. ATR’s broadcasts are also available via satellite and online.

The independent Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda reported that ATR journalists were barred from entering or leaving the newsroom and that the newsroom’s Wi-Fi access was blocked.