; (4) the deliberate attacks targeting media facilities; and (5) the near-universal censorship, imprisonment, or exile of Russia’s independent news media; Whereas, in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, 88 percent of media outlets active before 2014 had ceased operating by 2015, and Ukrainian journalists and bloggers have repeatedly been threatened, arbitrarily arrested, and tortured for resisting Russian occupation, such as the detentions and imprisonments of Vladyslav Yesypenko, Iryna Danylovych, Amet Suleimanov, Asan Akhmetov, Marlen Asanov, Nariman Celal, Oleksiy Bessarabov, Osman Arifmemetov, Remzi Bekirov, Ruslan Suleimanov, Rustem Sheikhaliev, Server Mustafayev, Seyran Saliev, Timur Ibragimov, Vilen Temeryanov, and Lutfiye Zudiyeva; Whereas Ukrainian journalists Viktoria Roshchina, Iryna Levchenko, and Dmytro Khilyuk remain in the custody of Russian forces after their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022; Whereas journalists and media workers face heightened dangers in Russia, such as harassment, repression, censorship, and imprisonment, with 30 journalists and 4 media workers imprisoned as of March 27, 2024, according to Reporters Without Borders, including— (1) Evan Gershkovich, a United States citizen and reporter with the Wall Street Journal, who has been wrongfully detained on baseless espionage charges since March 29, 2023, and faces up to 20 years in jail; (2) Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for congressionally funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who was arrested for violating the Foreign Agent law and has since been charged for violating Article 207.3 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which effectively criminalizes reporting about Russia’s war in Ukraine; (3) Ivan Safronov, a correspondent with Russian business dailies Kommersant and Vedomosti, who was sentenced to 22 years in jail on treason charges in September 2022; (4) Sergey Mikhaylov, publisher of independent newspaper Listok, who was arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian military in April 2022