The Russian president received the annual award from Netzwerk Recherche, a network of German investigative journalists, for his ability to remain taciturn whenever a microphone is put in front of him.

"Putin is a flawless example of an opponent of freedom of the press and expression," Netzwerk Recherche head Thomas Leif said in his award speech this weekend in Hamburg.

"When the protection and guarantee of freedom of the press are concerned, Putin follows principles closer to those of a dictatorship than of a democracy."

No reaction from Russians

Putin is the first non-German to receive the award which has been given out since 2002. The journalists' organization, however, has not received a reply as to whether Putin or Russia's ambassador to Germany will be present to accept the award personally, according Thomas Schuler, a member of the organization's executive board.

There was plenty of reason for the group, which was formed in 2001, to choose Putin to receive this year's award, Schuler said, adding that Netzwerk Recherche counted 14 journalists who had been murdered or died under suspicious circumstances since Putin came to power in 2000. None of the murders has been solved.

"These murders and cases of journalists being persecuted have created a climate in Russia that does not allow for criticism or debate," Schuler said. "It's a climate where self-censorship rules instead of freedom of expression. Netzwerk Recherche is of the opinion that Putin is responsible for this system."

Reporters risking their lives

Oleg Panfilov, who heads Moscow's Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, also said Putin deserved the award, adding that journalists who do not accept the official Kremlin line are putting their physical well-being at risk.

"Independent journalists are constantly under pressure," Panfilov said. "The reporters who do not let the state tame them are threatened at first, then beat up and sometimes even murdered."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has named Russia the third most dangerous place for reporters to work after Iraq and Algeria over the last 15 years.

Independent journalists and news outlets in Russia must also spend time and money defending themselves from lawsuits they cannot win because the courts side with the government, Panfilov said.

Sign of solidarity

Stephan Stuchlik, a Moscow television correspondent for German public broadcaster ARD, said he saw just how much pressure reporters in Russia are under while covering April opposition demonstrations in St. Petersburg.

"I got several elbows to the face and kicks in the stomach," said Stuchlik, who was taken into custody for filming the protests. "I got the impression at the St. Petersburg event that the direction was being given by the Kremlin. That it's not such a big deal if a journalist gets beat up."

Stuchlik and members of Netzwerk Recherche said the decision to give Putin the Closed Oyster award was a German signal of solidarity with the minority of independent Russian journalists, who enjoy freedom of expression in theory but not in practice.

"Freedom of expression in Russia is freedom to love Putin -- and most Russians make use of it," said Heribert Prantl, editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung's domestic German news.

"Freedom of expression in Russia is the freedom to write what Putin wants -- and most media make use of it."