‘They killed us’: Russia’s last independent newspaper falls silent amid pressure from Kremlin

Novaya Gazeta to End Operations After Years of Escalating Pressure

Activelifezero.com – One of Russia’s most prominent remaining independent newspapers is preparing to go dark, marking another severe blow to journalism inside the country. Novaya Gazeta said Friday that it will cease operations after authorities stripped it of the means to continue working.

Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said the newsroom would close its physical and digital operations on November 9, ending a chapter that has lasted three decades.

“Novaya Gazeta has been killed.”

In a video statement, Sokolov said the publication would switch off the lights at the office it had occupied for 30 years, shut down its servers and leave. He said Russia’s security services had compelled the editorial staff to stop their work.

The announcement reflects the increasingly narrow space available for independent reporting in Russia, particularly since the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Novaya Gazeta had already halted both its online and print editions in Russia after receiving a warning from Roskomnadzor, the state media regulator.

A long record of investigative reporting

Founded in the early 1990s with support connected to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Novaya Gazeta became widely known for investigations into corruption, abuses of power and misconduct within Russian state institutions. Its confrontational reporting on sensitive subjects often put the newspaper at odds with the Kremlin.

Dmitry Muratov, one of the paper’s founders and its former editor-in-chief, received the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2021 alongside Philippine journalist Maria Ressa. The Nobel Committee recognized them for defending freedom of expression.

The newspaper’s history has also been marked by extraordinary personal risk. Six of its journalists have been murdered during its three-and-a-half decades of work. Among them was Anna Politkovskaya, a determined critic of President Vladimir Putin whose reporting examined human rights violations in Chechnya. She was shot outside her Moscow apartment in 2006, on Putin’s birthday.

Muratov himself was attacked in April 2022 while traveling by train from Moscow to Samara. He said assailants threw red paint mixed with acetone at him. The newspaper said the attack nearly cost him his sight and that those responsible were released.

Legal and financial barriers close in

Russian lawmakers made it a crime in March 2022 to distribute information deemed “fake” if it discredits the Russian military. The legislation contributed to an exodus of journalists and placed independent outlets under intensified legal risk.

Both Muratov and Novaya Gazeta were designated as “foreign agents,” a label authorities have increasingly used for individuals and organizations portrayed as being under foreign influence. Beyond its reputational consequences, the designation brings demanding reporting obligations, financial penalties and other restrictions.

Officials later revoked the newspaper’s license and blocked access to its website within Russia. Its ability to receive reader support was also cut off, leaving the outlet without a key source of financial backing.

“We carried on as long as we could, but we were evicted from our home and our donations platform that allowed us to receive financial support from our readers has been shut down.”

“We have been stripped of all our resources. Entirely.”

The pressure extended to individual staff members. Investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested earlier this year on allegations of unlawful access to computerized information. Sokolov was detained for questioning, and his home was searched in connection with that case.

What the closure means for Russian readers

Sokolov described the closure as part of a larger loss of public access to dependable information. In his view, Russia’s information environment has been hollowed out to the point that people struggle to learn even about events close to home.

“The information space in Russia has disappeared.”

“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 either stories about a Russia that does not exist or propaganda promoting the way of thinking the ruling elite wants to impose on the public.”

Some of the newspaper’s reporting tradition continues outside Russia through Novaya Gazeta Europe, an affiliated publication operating from Riga, Latvia. But the loss of the original outlet inside Russia removes a newsroom that had spent decades documenting issues often ignored or avoided by state-aligned media.

Novaya Gazeta said it cannot continue under its existing name. One final edition is planned before staff pause to consider their next steps and a possible future form of work.

“‘Novaya’ no longer exists. One final issue will be published — and that’s it. After that, we’ll take a pause, reflect, and come up with a new life for ourselves.”

Muratov remains publicly involved in campaigns seeking the release of Russian political prisoners. Even as the newspaper falls silent, the people associated with it face the unresolved question confronting much of Russia’s independent press: how to preserve rigorous reporting when the institutions that support it have been dismantled.