Novaya Gazeta, Russia's most prominent independent newspaper for thirty years, has shut down after being evicted from its offices and blocked from receiving donations. The paper says Russian authorities killed it through a series of steps: blocking websites, banning the print edition, revoking its media licence, designating journalists as "foreign agents", and preventing banks from accepting reader donations.
Co-founder Dmitry Muratov, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, told the BBC: "There are different ways to commit murder. They chose to strangle us." He was designated a foreign agent by Russian authorities in 2023, a label often used to punish government critics.
Novaya Gazeta built its reputation on investigative reporting on corruption, human rights violations and abuse of power. The paper says six colleagues were killed for their work, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead twenty years ago this month after reporting on wars in Chechnya. Her office at the newspaper had been preserved as a memorial until the recent eviction.
In a statement announcing closure, Novaya Gazeta accused the Russian state of launching a "coordinated act" of repression. The paper said "human rights and freedoms have been eliminated in the country and their protection has been equated to a crime."
Pressure on independent Russian journalism intensified after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. New laws adopted afterward aimed to punish dissent and silence criticism of the war. Earlier this year, investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested on charges of unlawful access to computer information, and the newspaper's current editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov was questioned and had his home searched.
Muratov told the BBC: "We are in the middle of a terrible catastrophe."