Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta says it is shutting down under pressure

“Novaya Gazeta”, one of Russia’s best-known independent news outlets for three decades, says it is shutting down after what it described as pressure from Russian authorities.

“They’ve killed us,” the newspaper said in a statement on its website, accusing Russian authorities and special services of forcing it to stop working. The BBC reported the announcement.

The newspaper said it had received an eviction order and that the system allowing readers to make donations had been disabled, leaving it without a way to fund the publication.

“Novaya Gazeta” built a reputation for investigative reporting on corruption, human rights violations and abuses of power by officials and bureaucrats.

The newspaper said six journalists connected with it had been killed over the years for “fulfilling their professional and civic duty”. They included Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in the stairwell of her apartment building 20 years ago this month. Her reporting covered, among other subjects, the wars in Chechnya.

In its closure statement, the newspaper described its shutdown as a “coordinated act” and blamed what it called the “repressive state apparatus”. It said human rights and freedoms had been eliminated in Russia and that defending them had been equated with a crime. The statement also said the courts had been destroyed along with the law and that holding convictions had become state treason.

Pressure on independent journalism and Russian journalists has increased since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Soon after the start of what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”, Russia adopted laws intended to punish dissent and silence criticism of the war and those in power.

Russian authorities had revoked “Novaya Gazeta”’s licence and blocked access to its website. Several of its journalists and contributors were designated “foreign agents”, a label often used by the authorities against critics.

Earlier this year, police searched the newspaper’s editorial office. Investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested and charged with “unlawful access to computerised information”. In connection with the case, editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov was recently taken in for police questioning and his home was searched.

Despite the growing pressure, the newspaper had continued operating in a reduced form. Loyal readers used virtual private networks to get around the blocking of its website and access its content, but the loss of its licence and other restrictions dealt it a major blow.

Journalist Dmitry Muratov, one of the newspaper’s founders in the 1990s and its chief editor for many years, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for efforts “to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”. Russian authorities declared him a “foreign agent” in 2023.

Staff at the newspaper’s offices have already begun packing. The BBC described the closure as the end of an era and a sign of the times in an increasingly authoritarian Russia.