Novaia Gazeta, Russia’s oldest independent newspaper, announced on Friday that it is ceasing operations after more than three decades of existence.
The newspaper announced that it will publish one last edition before shutting down its servers and vacating its headquarters in central Moscow on November 9.
“We have been killed,” the publication said in a farewell statement posted on its website. “The Russian authorities and security services have forced our editorial office to close,” the announcement cited by Moscow Times reads.
Meeting held in the basement for fear of microphones
The Economist reported on Thursday that on October 19, the newspaper’s management was informed that they had to evacuate the headquarters.
A week later, on October 26, former editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov and the current editor-in-chief Dmitry Sokolov met with editorial staff in the basement of a neighboring building, fearing that listening devices might have been installed in the newsroom. During this meeting, it was decided to close the publication due to the risk that it could be designated as an “extremist organization” — a label that could have led to the arrest of its journalists.
In mid-October, Sergey Sokolov was detained following a search of his Moscow home and then released after questioning by the Russian Investigative Committee, in connection with an investigation targeting another Novaia Gazeta journalist, Oleg Roldugin. The non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned Sokolov’s detention at the time, stating that it demonstrated the “relentless harassment by the Kremlin” of the publication.
What Gorbachev opened, Putin closes
Novaia Gazeta was forced to suspend its print edition shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, due to censorship laws that effectively turned any critical reporting about the war into a crime.
In March 2022, after Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, much of the newspaper’s team left Russia to establish Novaia Gazeta Europe in Latvia.
Founded in 1993 with the support of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Novaia Gazeta built a reputation as an uncompromising publication in investigative journalism. The newspaper frequently exposed cases of government corruption, police brutality, electoral fraud, and human rights violations in Chechnya, while also investigating Russian military operations abroad.
Six of its journalists have been killed — cases that human rights organizations believe were revenge assassinations related to their investigative work. Among them was investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
T.D.