The appearances and declarations of Oleg Panfilov on this topic are well-known to my colleagues. Thus, in particular, he , making reference to facts, asserted that in recent years a catastrophic situation has evolved in the Russian mass information media. As a result of the crisis, several thousand journalists have lost their jobs – mass information media have reduced staffs by 15-30%. In so doing “it is complex to say specifically how many mass information media employees were reduced with violation of Labor legislation”, noted the journalist.

Panfilov had likewise declared that Russia is found in first place in the world with respect to the quantity of initiated criminal cases in relation to journalists. In so doing 95% of them are initiated by representatives of the power.

By the way, Oleg Panfilov is far from the first (and, most likely) not the last journalist to abandon Russia. In their time from the country left correspondent of radio «Liberty» Andrei Babitsky;  television presenter Savik Shuster;  «Novaya gazeta» correspondent Sergei Zolovkin;  the female Chechen journalist Mainat Abdullayeva; journalists from Karachayevo-Chnrkessia Yuri Bagrov and Fatima Tlisova; Elena Tregubova, who had written the book «Tales of a Kremlin Digger»;  journalist from Kemerovo Alexander Kosvintsev;  Manana Aslamazyan, who had headed the foundation “Educated Media” and the organization “Internews»;  Mikhail Voitenko,  former editor-in-chief of the authoritative net magazine “Morskoy bulletin – Sovfrakht“… The list can be continued. All of them were threatened by obvious danger. Panfilov, I can presume, could have had such danger lying in wait for him in the future.

At any rate, on the site Grani.Ru he said: «In Georgia I can feel myself professionally indispensable. I can take part in public processes, that are interesting to me. It is not wanted to conduct the remaining years to no purpose… If one is to speak of some kind of undercurrent, then, of course, it is there. The undercurrent consists of the fact that Georgia – is a country much more free than Russia, and here there are prospects for development both for journalistics, and for society, it is more interesting for me here now. Unfortunately, I have to say that in Russia there are fewer and fewer such prospects, and to be honest, I am already sufficiently disenchanted in the prospects of my work in Russia»