Vladimir Putin has brutally muzzled Russian media

thing viewers saw on March 3rd was a Soviet-era black-and-white recording of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “Swan Lake”. A few minutes later TV Rain, Russia’s only remaining independent internet television channel, went dark. It had branded itself the “optimistic channel” when it first came on air in 2010. Its young, liberal journalists had hoped for their country to be part of an open, civilised world. This week they walked out of their studio live on air. Many of them have now left the country.