Novaya Gazeta Closes After 30 Years Under Pressure from Russian Authorities

Novaya Gazeta announced its final closure following an escalation of political and economic pressure that gradually crippled its operations after roughly three decades of investigative journalism in Russia.

The newspaper's management stated in its announcement that Russian authorities blocked its website, halted its print edition, and revoked its media license, then delivered the final blow when banks refused to process reader donations to the outlet.

The statement published on its website began with the words: "They killed us. The newspaper no longer exists. Russian authorities and Russian intelligence agencies forced the newspaper to cease operations," describing what occurred as a coordinated, systematic intervention.

Dmitry Muratov, the newspaper's founder and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said: "There are different ways to commit a crime. They chose to strangle us," adding that authorities worked to disable the newspaper step by step through website blocking, banning the print edition, revoking media licenses, declaring staff as "foreign agents," attacking journalists, and ultimately preventing them from raising money, as banks refuse to accept reader donations.

Muratov himself was designated a "foreign agent" by Russian authorities in 2023. The newspaper affirms that six of its staff members died while performing their journalistic work, among them journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered in Moscow on October 7, 2006. Following an evacuation order, Politkovskaya's office—which had been converted into a memorial museum—was cleared, leaving only her desk and photograph.