Control of national television stations allows the Russian authorities to dominate the media space and manage public news consumption. They can therefore afford to devote fewer resources to silencing dissenting voices. When the authorities do decide that an independent media outlet has gone too far, as happened recently with RBC news and may now befall Ekho Moskvy, they have a range of options: pressuring the owners, bringing tangential charges such as financial wrongdoing and quietly squeezing out troublesome editors.
Virulent attacks on the opposition and its 'fifth columnist' media allies will intensify on state TV ahead of the elections.
Self-censorship will remain the norm for many journalists.
A generational shift will see younger Russians turning to the internet rather than traditional media.
