Novaya Gazeta, one of the last bastions of independent journalism in Russia, announced on Friday that it is permanently halting operations. The decision marks the end of a three-decade tenure defined by fearless investigative reporting, which ultimately proved incompatible with the intensifying media controls imposed by the Kremlin.
“Novaya Gazeta has been killed,” Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov declared in a video statement. “On November 9, we will turn off the lights in the home where we have lived for 30 years. We will shut down our servers and leave… The Russian security services have forced the editorial team to cease operations.” The organization confirmed it will publish one final edition before ceasing all activities to reflect on its future. According to sokolov, He believes Novaya Gazeta’s fate reflected the situation in Russian society more broadly which faces a suppressed media landscape. After that, we’ll take a pause, reflect, and come up with a new life for ourselves.”.
Founded in the early 1990s with support from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the paper was long recognized for its adversarial stance toward state power. Its history is marked by tragedy, with six journalists murdered during its 35-year existence, including Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin who was killed outside her Moscow apartment in 2006. The publication noted that in several of these cases, perpetrators were never held accountable.
The current closure follows a relentless campaign by Russian authorities, which included revoking the paper’s license, blocking its website within the country, and labeling the organization and its former editor-in-chief, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, as “foreign agents.” This designation brought significant legal burdens and financial restrictions. The paper noted that it was evicted from its offices and stripped of its ability to receive reader donations, effectively cutting off its primary funding channels. Co-founder Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2021 alongside Philippines journalist Maria Ressa for their “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.”. Russian authorities have increasingly used the label as a way of casting aspersions on the credibility and independence of organizations and people carrying the designation. It’s a sign that the state sees them as associated with foreign influence and carries practical legal implications such as cumbersome financial penalties and reporting requirements.
Sokolov, who was previously detained for questioning as his home was searched in connection with a case against investigative reporter Oleg Roldugin, described the broader impact of this crackdown. He noted that the Russian information space has essentially vanished, leaving citizens unable to access objective news about their own surroundings or the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Instead, the public is primarily exposed to state-sanctioned propaganda. “The information space in Russia has disappeared,” Sokolov said. “People do not know, and have no way of finding out, even what is happening in the neighboring street, because the sources of news available to them are ei.
The newspaper’s decline accelerated after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when Russian lawmakers criminalized the spread of information deemed to discredit the military. This forced numerous staff members into exile, leading to the creation of an offshoot, Novaya Gazeta Europe, based in Riga. Muratov’s own safety was frequently compromised, including a 2022 incident where he was attacked with red paint on a train, nearly losing his sight. Forcing scores of journalists including those working at Novaya Gazeta to flee into exile, russian lawmakers criminalized the spread of “fake” news that discredits the Russian military in March 2022. After receiving a warning from Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, novaya Gazeta initially suspended publication of its online and print editions in Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Alongside other prominent independent Russian journalists, in an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022, the move came after Muratov took part. According to in April 2022, Muratov, He was attacked with acetone laced red paint while traveling on a train from Moscow to the city of Samara.
While Muratov has continued to lobby for the release of political prisoners, international efforts have failed to shield the publication from the state’s mechanisms of repression. Regarding the future of their branding, the paper noted in its statement to international media that it can no longer operate under the name “Novaya Gazeta,” asserting that the institution as it existed no longer survives in the current political climate. According to the Atlantic in September, On his efforts to lobby for US diplomacy to release jailed Russian dissidents.
