Novaya Gazeta shuts down as Russian authorities evict newspaper from its home of 30 years

Novaya Gazeta, Russia's most prominent independent newspaper, is shutting down after being evicted from the offices it has occupied for three decades. The publication says it has also been blocked from receiving donations, and it accuses the Russian authorities of deliberately destroying it. "There are different ways to commit murder," journalist and co-founder Dmitry Muratov said. "They chose to strangle us." He described a sequence of escalating measures: "First, they blocked our websites and banned the paper edition. Then they revoked our media licence. One by one we were declared 'foreign agents', and our journalists were attacked." He added that banks were now refusing to accept donations from readers, saying political repression in Russia had reached the paper. Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, described by the Nobel committee as a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. The award did not prevent the Russian authorities from designating him a 'foreign agent' in 2023, a label frequently used to punish critics of the government. Over three decades, Novaya Gazeta built a reputation for fearless investigative reporting on corruption, human rights violations and abuse of power by officials, dangerous subjects in Russia. The paper says six of its colleagues were killed for fulfilling their professional and civic duty. Among them was Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote extensively on the wars in Chechnya and was shot dead in the stairwell of her apartment block twenty years ago this month. Her office at the newspaper had been preserved as a museum in her memory, but since the eviction order most of the objects have been removed, leaving only her desk and a portrait of her. In a statement on its website announcing the closure, the newspaper launched a stinging attack on the authorities. "They've killed us," it began. "The newspaper is no more. The Russian authorities and Russian special services have forced the paper to stop its work." The publication described itself as the victim of a coordinated act and blamed what it called the repressive state apparatus, adding that human rights and freedoms had been eliminated in the country, the courts destroyed along with the law, and that holding personal convictions was now treated as state treason. Pressure on independent journalism has grown since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Soon after the start of what the Kremlin calls the 'special military operation', new laws were adopted to punish dissent and silence criticism of the war and those in power. Earlier this year, police searched Novaya Gazeta's editorial office and veteran investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested and charged with unlawful access to computerised information. The paper's current editor-in-chief, Sergei Sokolov, was recently taken in for police questioning and his home was searched in connection with the case. Despite the mounting pressure, the newspaper had continued operating in a reduced form, with loyal readers using virtual private networks to circumvent official blocking of its website. But the loss of its licence and other restrictions proved a major blow. Muratov said he did not know what would happen next, but insisted the paper would stay true to its values. "We are in the middle of a terrible catastrophe," he said. "Different dictatorships in the world seek chaos. They use chaos to rule their countries and peoples and to strengthen their personal power." He added: "I do know that we will do everything to stay true to our values: the human right to life. Human rights override the rights of states." Novaya Gazeta's demise marks the end of an era for independent journalism in Russia, and in an increasingly authoritarian country it is also a sign of the times.