The Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta, which presented itself as an opposition publication and has been designated a “foreign agent” in Russia, announced that it is closing down. On 30 October, the newspaper said Russia’s authorities and security services had forced it to cease operations.
The newsroom will stop working on 9 November. Journalists received a letter ordering them to vacate the editorial premises, and at the same time their donations system was switched off.
The outlet’s staff said they had managed to keep working for almost five years in “tight encirclement by the security services”, but have now found themselves in a “kill zone”.
Novaya Gazeta’s editorial office is based in Moscow. The newspaper operated from these premises for 29 years. It was launched with the support of the former and last General Secretary of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. Over the years, journalists Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova and Natalya Estemirova were killed or died in mysterious circumstances. Politkovskaya, who exposed war crimes in Chechnya, was shot dead on Vladimir Putin’s birthday.
Novaya Gazeta has a European branch called Novaya Gazeta. Europe. There is no information about it closing. The bulk of the European newsroom is made up of journalists who left Russia after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.