Galina Timchenko

co-founder and CEO Meduza

Galina Timchenko is the co-founder, CEO and publisher of Meduza, the largest remaining independent Russian news outlet published in both Russian and English. Meduza continues to reach millions of people inside Russia despite operating from exile.

In April 2021, the Russian authorities designated Meduza a “foreign agent”. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Meduza has strongly opposed the Kremlin’s actions. In January 2023, the Kremlin banned Meduza completely, declaring the outlet an illegal “undesirable organization”. Meduza has however managed to retain the majority of its audience due to the diverse and technologically advanced infrastructure. In December 2025, a Moscow court sentenced Timchenko to five years in prison in absentia on charges of leading an “undesirable organization".

Timchenko is a 2022 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award winner for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom. In 2022, Meduza was awarded the Fritt Ord Foundation Prize for courageous, independent and fact-based journalism.

Galina served as the editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru media from 2004 to 2014.

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