“Are you from the press area? Your name?”. The questions were repeated this Monday at the entrance door to the Casa Rosada. Under the drizzle that covered Buenos Aires, a Federal Police agent and an officer from Casa Militar took the list and checked the names on the screen of their cell phone. Thus, several accredited journalists found out that they could not pass.
The Government decided to restrict access to journalists from media outlets that published articles identified with a Russian espionage campaign to discredit the government Javier Milei during 2024.
“It is a preventive measure until the facts are clarified”said official spokespersons when asked THE NATION. When asked specifically about the means reached by the decision, they avoided sharing the list and pointed out: “Everyone involved”.
The measure, as far as he could know THE NATIONspread to the Chamber of Deputieswho presides Martin Menem. They informed the Circle of Parliamentary Journalists that they are suspending the accreditations of the media La Patriada, el Destape, A24 and Gritos del Sur. They clarified that it was not something “personal” with the journalists, but with the media.
“It’s not going to happen in the Senate.”they responded to THE NATION from the Chamber he presides Victoria Villarruelconfronted with Milei.
The Government’s reaction could go further: in the Casa Rosada they evaluate summon “in the next few hours” those responsible for the indicated media “so that they can explain what happened,” said an official source.
“There could be cases of treason. There was interference from a foreign country in Argentina,” the official added.
As far as he could know THE NATIONthere were at least six cases – among them El Destape, FM La Patriada, Tiempo Argentino, A24 and Ámbito Financiero – in which accredited journalists could not enter the Casa Rosada this Monday to cover the activities of the national administration. They were also not informed how long the ban would last to carry out their task. The measure did not affect other media mentioned in the investigation, such as Infobae and El Cronista Comercial.
The information about what happened around the case was known last Friday, as revealed by a journalistic investigation consortium that accessed a leak of Russian documents and intelligence reports.
Just as he told THE NATION Last Friday, a consortium of investigative journalists accessed a leak of Russian intelligence reports in which it was revealed that a spy group known as “The Company” developed a media and political campaign to discredit the libertarian government during 2024.
The smear campaign consisted of a series of “hybrid war” maneuvers aimed at questioning President Milei and his government with the dissemination of true and false news, fomenting internal divisions within the ruling party, supporting the opposition through various means and encouraging conflicts with neighboring countries.
According to the material accessed by the consortium of journalists, the discrediting campaign included conducting surveys, meetings and briefings on political parties and unions, profiles of political leaders and “interviews with experts,” including “(Peronist) politicians, opposition political scientists and economists.”
The work of “The Company” in Argentina also included analysis of the Argentine military-industrial situation and oil resources in Antarctica, a campaign to promote bills against Argentina’s accession to the Contact Group of Friends of Ukraine and a plan to support opposition candidates in the legislative elections that took place during 2025.
The leak covers a total of 76 sensitive documents accessed by the African media The Continentwhich shared it with a consortium of investigative media including openDemocracy (Great Britain), Dossier Center and iStories (Russia), All Eyes on Wagner and Forbidden Stories (France), as well as Filtraleaksled by the Argentine journalist Santiago O’Donnell.
The leak revealed, quantified and even quoted the value of “a network for the distribution of media content in the Argentine media and in the local segment of social networks”. For this, it detailed more than 250 news, analysis and opinion articles that were published in more than 20 digital media between June and October 2024 at a cost of at least $283,100, making Argentina the country in Latin America and Africa where Russia disbursed the most money for these purposes, according to what was revealed.
The Casa Rosada, meanwhile, had already denounced the interference of “The Company” in Argentina. In June 2025, he accused five Russian citizens, residing in the country, of carrying out suspicious tasks in coordination with the Kremlin. Among them, he pointed out Lev Konstantinovich, whom he identified as “in charge of financing and promoting links with local collaborators,” and his wife, Irina Iakovenko.
