The Riposte covers internet censorship in Russia, and tries to do it fast — that’s where the name comes from. When a new blocking technique is deployed, throttling appears on a major platform, or a protocol stops working, developers of circumvention tools and analysts tracking policy need timely information. Our goal is to publish initial analysis within 72 hours. Full coverage of a censorship escalation is not always achievable within that window, but we do our best to refine our processes and deliver the information needed for circumvention tool development and policy work as quickly as possible.

Methods vary by event. Some require technical probes and packet captures. Others draw on the Russian press, user reports from forums, or analysis of regulatory and political shifts. The team is multidisciplinary and works across borders, with researchers inside and outside Russia.

The project is led by Alexey Sidorenko, who has been tracking the Russian internet since 2005. He covered the Russian-language web at Global Voices Online from 2009 to 2012, authored Russia’s first Freedom on the Net report for Freedom House in 2011, and has continued to observe the space since 2012 while directing Teplitsa, among other work.

The chief editor is Nikolay Ovchinnikov, a journalist and editor who has been tracking the Russian internet since 2015. He has worked on a range of human rights projects and is behind the gaming studio Noesis, where he and his colleagues have produced projects on serious social issues that have reached audiences of over a million.

The Riposte publishes in English to serve developers of VPN and circumvention tools, policy researchers, journalists, and others working on the Russian internet. Subscribe to the newsletter for analysis as it is published.