Russia's Independent Novaya Gazeta to Close Under Pressure, Lights Go Out on November 9
Russia's independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced it is closing, saying pressure from the authorities forced the decision. Authorities recently searched the home of one of its senior editors, and one of its journalists was detained earlier this year.
“Novaya Gazeta is ceasing to exist,” its editor-in-chief, Sergei Sokolov, said in a video statement published on YouTube on Friday. “The Russian authorities — the Russian special services — have forced the editorial team to end its work.”
Sokolov added: “Novaya Gazeta has been killed… On November 9 we will turn off the lights in our home, where we have lived for 30 years. We will shut down the servers and leave.”
This month Sokolov was taken in for questioning and Russian authorities searched his home over a criminal case involving his colleague Oleg Roldugin, who was arrested in April.
Roldugin was charged with “unlawful access to computerised information,” without any details being given. According to the state RIA news agency, he pleaded not guilty. Novaya Gazeta says he is awaiting trial under house arrest, which has been extended until 10 November.
Russia has introduced near-Soviet levels of censorship since sending troops to Ukraine in February 2022, pushing the vast majority of independent journalists into exile. Novaya Gazeta, a bastion of independent journalism in Russia, is classed by Moscow as a “foreign agent,” a label used to stifle dissent.
Novaya Gazeta cut down production inside Russia after the offensive began, and authorities revoked its media licence the same year.
The paper's then editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his efforts to safeguard freedom of expression at the helm of the paper.
