Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading independent newspaper, announced its shutdown after 30 years of operation. The outlet cited increasing government pressure as the reason for closing. Founder Dmitri A.
Muratov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, stated the government systematically targeted the paper. Officials first jailed an employee, then labeled the newspaper a foreign agent, and designated 100 people as affiliated with a foreign agent. The outlet was forced from its Moscow building on Potapovsky Lane, which also houses a museum honoring murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
Banks halted payment processing, which Muratov attributed to F. S. B. pressure following the Ukraine war.
Despite the closure, about 60 percent of journalists relocated to create Novaya Gazeta Europa, a digital outlet expected to continue publishing, though it remains blocked in Russia. The shutdown marks the end of a publication that survived murders, raids, and censorship to report on corruption and conflict zones.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing