7x7. Horizontal Russia (Seven by seven) is a Russian
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
news website based in the
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic (; ), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the northeast of European Russia. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Syktyvka ...
and operating in 31 regions of the European part of Russia.
Content
The name of the website is a reference to the original homepage design, which had seven columns and seven rows.
As of August 2020, the website operates in 31 out of 85 regions of Russia; these are the regions of the European part without and the
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...
and the South of Russia.
The website has a news section written by professional journalists and an opinion section written by community and civil activists.
The main topics of publications are politics, human rights and ecology. In particular, the website publishes materials about corruption and torture in prisons and social materials (for example, a video about one day in the life of a disabled person).
The authors of the website are generally critical of the Russian regional and federal authorities.
The website has a blog platform with the ability to comment on materials, a YouTube channel, a “Live” section about events that do not need comments, a “
Longreads
Automattic Inc. is an American global distributed company most notable for WordPress.com and its contributions to the WordPress system. The company was founded in 2005.
Automattic's brands and products include WordPress.com, Akismet, Grav ...
” section, an English version and a mobile version of the website.
In Spain, a website with a similar name and logo publishes a daily newsletter covering world events in Spanish. The platform focuses on providing a concise overview of global affairs, offering readers key insights into international news. This Spanish version operates independently of the Russian '7x7,' catering specifically to Spanish-speaking audiences interested in timely world updates.
History
The website was founded in 2010 in the city of
Syktyvkar
Syktyvkar (, , ; , ) is the capital city of the Komi Republic in Russia, as well as its largest city. It is also the administrative center of the Syktyvkar Urban Okrug. Until 1930, it was known as Ust-Sysolsk after the Sysola, Sysola River.
Ety ...
,
Komi Republic
The Komi Republic (; ), sometimes simply referred to as Komi, is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia situated in the northeast of European Russia. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Syktyvka ...
, under the name "Interregional Internet magazine "7x7": news, opinions, blogs". The founder was a group of local public figures and entrepreneurs, including Leonid Zilberg and Alexander Ostrovsky.
Most of the founders are members of the local branch of the
Memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...
society, the materials of this society are often reprinted in 7x7.
Sofya Kropotkina was the editor-in-chief at the time the website was founded, later Elena Solovieva and Maxim Polyakov took her place. As of 2020, the editor-in-chief is Oleg Grigorenko.
The website began to expand to other regions and changed its name to “7x7. Horizontal Russia”, focusing on the regions of the North-West, the
Volga region
The Volga region, known as the ( , ; rus, Поволжье, r=Povolžje, p=pɐˈvoɫʐje; ), is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European ...
, the
Centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
and the
Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.
.
In 2011–2012, access to the website from government agencies was prohibited. In 2014, the Internet channel "7x7 TV" was launched on YouTube.
From September 2013 to September 2017, traffic increased from 61 thousand to 182 thousand unique visitors per month, the number of articles devoted to news about the Komi Republic decreased from 3–4 to 1-2 per day.
The website sued Natalia Mikhalchenkova, the Minister of Education of the Komi Republic, because of the publication about the presence of plagiarism in her candidate work, and won.
In 2020, the website wrote about the attempts of the authorities of the Komi Republic to hide the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of which the head of the republic Sergey Gaplikov and the republican Minister of Health Dmitry Berezin were fired.
On 28 December 2020, the
Ministry of Justice of Russia
The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation () is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for the legal system and penal system.
The Ministry of Justice is the federal authority for operating Russia's courts and correctional ...
added 7x7 journalist Sergei Markelov to the so-called media register of “ foreign agents” in connection with his cooperation with Sever.Realii, an affiliate of
Radio Liberty
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...
, included in the media register of “foreign agents”. On 31 March 2021, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow approved the decision of the Ministry of Justice; this court decision was the first to approve the addition of an individual to the register of media-“foreign agents”.
On 21 July 2023, Russia's
Ministry of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
In 2016, the branch "7x7-Karelia" under the leadership of Gleb Yarovoy received an award from the Civil Initiatives Committee in the "New Word" nomination for "civil initiatives in the field of creating new journalistic and educational media or bright projects within existing media."
In 2019, 7x7 received the Free Press of Eastern Europe Award from the German
ZEIT-Stiftung
The charitable foundation ''Zeit-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius'' (house style: ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS) is registered in Hamburg. Its aim is to fund projects in research and scholarship, arts and culture, as well as education and training. I ...
Foundation and the Norwegian Fritt Ord organisation as “a unique example of collaboration and cooperation between journalists, bloggers and activists.”
In 2020, the website became the laureate of the Levin Sign "For loyalty to journalism".
In 2020, 7x7 journalists Ekaterina Malysheva and Evgeny Malyshev received the Profession – Journalist Award from the
Open Russia
Open Russia () is a political organisation founded by the exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky with the shareholders of his firm, Yukos (a company closed in 2006). Khodorkovsky states that his organisation advocates democracy and huma ...
Foundation in the Multimedia + Podcasts nomination for the material “Network. Sources. Seven stories about anti-fascists who received long sentences for terrorism, the FSB and torture” about the “
Network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
” case.
As of December 2021, 7x7 journalists received the
Redkollegia
''Redkollegia'' () is an independent media award established by the Sreda Foundation headed by Boris Zimin to support free professional journalism in Russia. In 2015, after the Sreda Foundation was closed, charitable activities of Boris Zimin ar ...