Russia’s Novaya Gazeta, one of the country’s most celebrated independent newspapers, closed its Moscow offices on Monday, saying government pressure had left it unable to keep reporting. The Novaya Gazeta closure was reported by PBS NewsHour, which cited the paper’s own account of relentless pressure from government officials.
In a statement published Oct. 30, the newspaper said Russian authorities and security services had "forced our editorial team to cease operations," according to PBS NewsHour. The paper had previously been branded a "foreign agent" and fined after being accused of discrediting Russia’s armed forces. Its online platforms were blocked and its printing house was seized, PBS NewsHour reported.
DW reported that Russian banks were forbidden from processing reader donations. The paper had relied heavily on that income after moving wholly online following the invasion of Ukraine.
Novaya Gazeta has a record of violence against its journalists. According to PBS NewsHour, six of its journalists have been killed since the paper launched in 1993, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot in her apartment building in 2006.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered a different account. According to BBC World, Peskov said Russia’s media was highly diverse and that the closure was part of "a standard rotational process" in a competitive media landscape.
The paper’s editor, Dmitry Muratov, shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. He was attacked on a train in 2022 with red paint and stepped down as editor in 2023 after being named a "foreign agent." Other independent outlets have closed or moved abroad since Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Some Novaya Gazeta staff left and launched Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said the paper would return "with renewed strength" when signs of change appear. DW reports that leadership has not made clear whether this ends its reporting inside Russia or whether it will regroup abroad. Novaya Gazeta Europe continues separately.
The key claims about the forced closure come from the newspaper’s statement and Peskov’s comment; no independent confirmation was reported. No official response beyond Peskov’s remarks was reported, the number of staff affected was not given, and the BBC item is brief, so details of the final editorial meeting remain limited.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.