Tatyana Simakova, editor-in-chief of The Village, told RBC that the publication received only one notification on the morning of March 2, it concerned material about the former head of the Yandex.News service, Lev Gershenzon. The journalists were required to remove it within 24 hours, which was done. Later, on March 4, The Village reported on its Telegram channel that the Russian office was closing, and the editorial office would work remotely, including from Warsaw, “for security reasons.”
Komersant’s source in the media market says that the Redefine holding plans to create a new city media, “which will replace the blocked publication in order to transfer advertisers.” Another interlocutor of the newspaper also knows about such plans. A third source from Kommersant said that the new media is “generally ready” and will work on an advertising model, and the launch will be officially announced soon. The editors of The Village, according to him, will continue to work.
“The editor-in-chief will tell about the concept of new media, if it appears,” Alexander Vinokurov told the newspaper, without revealing other details.
Redefine (Look At Media in 2007–2019) is a Russian media holding that unites The Village, Wonderzine, Spletnik.ru publications, a creative and marketing agency. According to the company itself, the monthly audience of The Village is 4.8 million unique users, Wonderzine – 3.5 million, Spletnik.ru – 5 million.