MOSCOW: Free and open debate has become a rarity in Russia’s media which is mostly controlled by the state or business moguls. In a country where three high-profile journalists have been murdered since 1991, many believe speaking out can cost you your life. So many independent thinkers escape to a virtual space free of vested interests where anonymity goes hand in hand with a worldwide reach -- personal online journals or blogs.

“In the West, you don’t need to look for some additional place where you can discuss politics, books, different events,” blogger and sociologist Ekaterina Alyabyeva said.

“Civil society is exactly where that happens. In Russia, that doesn’t happen anywhere because our press, our media don’t give their readers an opportunity to talk back.”

Today’s bloggers follow the tradition of the Soviet dissidents who found an outlet for their opinions in samizdat, the clandestine printing of anti-government material.

The tight control over the media once exercised by the ruling Communist Party collapsed after the end of the Soviet era but Russian President Vladimir Putin has halted and reversed the trend to greater press freedom.

The Kremlin has tightened controls on the media, especially the main television stations, and this, combined with its domination of the political scene, has fuelled Western concerns that Russia is entering a new period of authoritarian rule.—Reuters