Novaya Gazeta announces closure after mounting pressure from Russian authorities

Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s most prominent independent newspapers, has announced that it will cease operations after years of pressure from the authorities, including the loss of its media licence, restrictions on its websites and the closure of its donations platform. The outlet said it would leave its Moscow headquarters on 9 November, shut down its servers and end its work. Euronews quoted the editorial team as saying the newspaper had been stripped of all its resources and forced to stop operating by Russian authorities and security services.

Dmitry Muratov, the paper’s co-founder and a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, told the BBC that authorities had chosen to “strangle” the newspaper. He said its websites were blocked, the print edition was banned, its media licence was revoked and journalists were designated “foreign agents” or attacked. Novaya Gazeta’s editorial statement described the closure as a coordinated campaign by the state apparatus.

The paper has been openly critical of the government and has reported on corruption, human rights abuses and the conduct of officials. It also documented the work of journalists who faced serious danger. The newspaper said six of its colleagues had been killed while carrying out their professional and civic duties.

One of them was Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in her apartment building 20 years ago this month after reporting extensively on the wars in Chechnya. Politkovskaya’s former office had been preserved as a museum in her memory, but Euronews reported that the museum would close along with the newsroom. In the BBC’s account, most of the objects had already been removed, leaving a desk and a portrait of the murdered journalist.

Pressure increased after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The BBC said new laws were adopted to punish dissent and criticism of the war. Earlier this year, police searched Novaya Gazeta’s offices, while investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested and charged with unlawful access to computerised information.

Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov was also questioned and had his home searched. The paper suspended work in March 2022 after warnings from Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, but later resumed in reduced form. Euronews reported that its licence had been revoked in 2022.

Readers used virtual private networks to access the website, although the loss of the licence and other restrictions sharply reduced the publication’s ability to operate. The newspaper also said banks had stopped accepting donations from readers. Its statement attributed the closures to rules linked to the security service, though that allegation was presented by the paper and was not independently established in the supplied reports.

The immediate financial effect was clear: Novaya Gazeta said it could no longer earn money through reader support. A final issue is still expected to be published. Independent Russian journalists, quoted by Euronews through the outlet Meduza, praised Novaya Gazeta’s investigations, awards and journalists, calling its closure the end of a uniquely important newsroom.

Some of its reporters who left Russia after the invasion established Novaya Gazeta Europe, based in Latvia.