galina timchenko, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much. could you have stayed in russia?chose to leave — why? it's very a simple question. we left russia in 2014. it was very hard year. it was annexation of crimea. it was war with ukraine. and we realised that after my firing, kremlin administration just doesn't allow me to work in my profession. how do you know that it was the kremlin behind yourfiring? you know, it was obvious because i have heard from my colleagues, maybe a couple of times, that head of inner policy in kremlin administration said, "who is majors in internet in russian segment of internet? "who is majors, who is the main figures." my colleagues said, "lenta is on the top." he said, "ok, editor—in—chief, editor—in—chief of lenta "will not work next year in lenta," for sure that it was direct order of kremlin. and lenta's owner, russian oligarch alexander mamut, said it directly to me. he said what? he said, "galina, i have no cards to play with kremlin. "they said that i should fire you. "and yourjournalist, ilya azar, who made his reports "from ukraine

galina timchenko was editor of ilenta.ru tush was fired.he left of russia and set up a new organisation, meduza, in exile. it reaches millions of russians but what is a self—imposed exile say about media freedom in russia and should she have stayed to defend the journalism there? galina timchenko, welcome to hardtalk. could you have stayed in russia? you chose to leave. it's a simple question. we left russia in 2014. it was a very hard year. the annexation of crimea. it was war with ukraine. we realised after my firing, the kremlin administration just doesn't allow me to work. how do you know that it was the kremlin? you know, it was obvious. i have heard from my colleagues, maybe a couple of times, that they had it in a policy in kremlin administration said, who is majors in internet in russian segment of internet? who is major, majorfigures. my colleagues said lenta is on the top. he said, 0k. editor—in—chief. editor—in—chief of le nta. 0k. editor—in—chief. editor—in—chief of lenta. i know for sure that it was direct order of kremlin. i h