Every week, via secure video link, Russian journalists in exile train apprentice reporters in their home country. "It's incredible! In Putin's country, young people still want to work for fair and honest information, despite the risks and the lack of opportunities," said a delighted Olga Proskournina, 50, one of the Europe-based volunteers helping and supporting budding journalists. She took her first steps in the industry in elementary school during the perestroika era of the late 1980s. "I was fascinated by the freedom of words. We wanted to change the world for the better..."

Proskournina, who has been exiled since the start of the war in Ukraine and now lives in Paris, works for Republic, one of Russia's most respected independent media organizations. The website, which publishes articles written by experts, is classified as a "foreign agent" in Russia and risks being added to the list of "undesirable organizations": its readers, who finance the site through their subscriptions, could then face criminal prosecution.

Above all, Proskournina wants to think about the future. Between proofreading articles for Republic, she spends her time on conference calls with a dozen apprentice journalists. For security reasons, we cannot publish any details about this distance learning course, which is organized via the Zoom and Signal messaging systems, using aliases. "For them, this profession is much more dangerous today than it was for us under perestroika. We're teaching them the basics of the trade by teaching them how to minimize risks."

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