New Delhi: Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced that it will cease operations on 9 November, blaming what it describes as a coordinated campaign of pressure and repression by the country’s authorities.
In a statement published on 30 October titled ‘We Have Been Killed’, the newspaper said it had been forced to shut down after losing its office, financial support, and the ability to publish. The announcement brings an end to an outlet that had been described as a bastion of more than three decades of independent journalism in Russia.
“On November 9th, we will turn off the lights in the home where we have lived for 30 years, shut down our servers, and leave. The newspaper no longer exists,” the editorial team said.
The newsroom accused Russian authorities and security services of deliberately stripping it of the resources needed to continue operating. It said its office had been taken away and its reader-donation platform, which provided financial support, had been shut down.
“We have been stripped of all our resources,” the statement said, describing the developments as part of a coordinated campaign.
Mounting pressure on independent journalism
The newspaper’s closure follows years of increasing restrictions on independent media in Russia, particularly after the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when the organisation was forced to go online-only.
Following the invasion, Russia introduced stricter censorship laws that criminalised the dissemination of what authorities describe as false information about the military and the discrediting of its armed forces. These measures have made reporting on the war and other politically sensitive issues increasingly difficult.
Novaya Gazeta said its website had been blocked, its media licence revoked, and its printing press seized. Several members of its newsroom have also faced legal action, raids, and physical attacks.
One of its editors, Oleg Roldugin, was arrested and faces trial over allegations related to gathering information. The apartment of editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov was also searched by authorities.
The statement by Novaya Gazeta mentioned six colleagues who were murdered, including investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in 2006 and has often been lauded in retrospect for predicting the rise of Vladimir Putin.
Dmitry Muratov, the newspaper’s publisher who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, was also attacked with acid paint and subsequently labelled a foreign agent by Russian authorities.
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An end to three decades of reporting
While the Russian authorities have not immediately responded to the newspaper’s announcement, the Kremlin has previously defended restrictions on media as necessary amid what it describes as an existential confrontation with the West over Ukraine.
In its farewell statement, Novaya Gazeta described its closure as part of a wider erosion of civil liberties and independent institutions in Russia.
“This is not just our own story; it is the story of a country and a society that are being systematically crushed,” the newsroom wrote.
The newspaper said it would publish one final issue before shutting down its servers and leaving its Moscow office on 9 November.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)