Vladimir Putin urged to end crackdown on Russian journalists

More than a dozen independent media sign open letter calling for halt to foreign agent' designations

Russia's leading independent media have appealed to Vladimir Putin and other top government officials to halt a crackdown on journalists under which some of the countries' top outlets have been declared foreign agents or banned outright over the last year.

More than a dozen media, including Meduza, TV Rain and Novaya Gazeta have signed an open letter to the government calling on it to remove individual journalists and their outlets from its blacklists and repeal laws on foreign agents" and undesirable organisations" altogether.