Outside the studio, security guards began pounding on the steel door. Viktor muted the intercom.

On screen, the anchorman — a gray-haired journalist named Lena — didn’t flinch. She read the evening’s final story: a report on press freedom. Her voice was low, calm, as if she were reading a bedtime story to a frightened child.

The control room of TV6 smelled of stale coffee, burnt cables, and defiance. Viktor, the night shift director, stared at the red clock counting down to midnight. In ten minutes, the Kremlin’s signal would cut them off. The station had been sued into oblivion, its independent news a thorn too sharp to ignore.

“They say our frequency will be given to cartoons tomorrow,” she said. “But tonight, the truth is still live.”