Not really saying that it’s independent, just that it’s not a random propaganda rag. Given that they’ve already received a strike mid 2022, they’re operating within a narrow corridor of permitted professionalized speech. Even a budding totalitarian regime is interested in having a decent financial newspaper to prop up the business/investment sector, and RBC is a far cry from the shrill propagandistic dross produced by Kremlin-originating sources. So, I don’t trust them to report everything, but I don’t expect them to outright produce fake news. That goes against the mutually beneficial niche they have settled in.
Ranking of Kings is also an interesting case for Deaf representation.