Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta to close, citing pressure from ‘special services’

The Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced it is closing, citing pressure from authorities who recently searched the home of its senior editor and earlier this year detained one of its journalists.

“Novaya Gazeta is ceasing to exist,” the 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.”

Russia has introduced near-Soviet levels of censorship since sending troops to Ukraine, 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.

Sokolov said: “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 one of his colleagues, Oleg Roldugin, who was arrested in April.

Roldugin was detained and charged with “unlawful access to computerised information”, without any details being given. He pleaded not guilty, according to the state RIA news agency.

Roldugin is awaiting trial while under house arrest that has been extended until 10 November, according to Novaya Gazeta.

Russia has intensified its crackdown on independent news outlets since its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022. Novaya Gazeta cut down production inside Russia after the offensive began. 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.