Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading independent newspaper, has closed after being designated a foreign agent and facing state pressure, ending 30 years of investigative reporting.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading independent newspaper, has closed its operations after 30 years of publishing investigations into corruption, human rights violations and abuse of power.
Journalists from Novaya Gazeta held their final editorial meeting on Monday, November 9, 2026, before packing up their belongings and leaving their central Moscow office. The newspaper announced last month that it was being forced to shut down after being classed as a "foreign agent" by Moscow, a label used to stifle dissent.
In April 2026, Moscow declared the newspaper itself a foreign agent. After that, authorities blocked all its online platforms, seized its printing house, and shut down the donation system, which readers used to support the paper. The government ordered the paper to close its offices in the capital city.
In October, authorities searched the home of Novaya Gazeta's editor-in-chief, Sergei Sokolov, and took him in for questioning. Another editor at the paper, Oleg Roldugin, was arrested in April.
Dmitry Muratov, the paper's co-founder and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, addressed journalists who gathered to witness the closure of the Novaya Gazeta office in Moscow. "Those in our country who advocate for peace have been denied the right to read what they choose, as we see happening today," he said, adding that constitutional guarantees for political and civil rights had "effectively ceased to function".
The newspaper wrote in a statement: "Human rights and freedoms have been abolished in this country, and defending them is now treated as a crime."
The Kremlin played down the closure, saying it was part of "a normal cycle of change". The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's media was highly diverse and that the newspaper's closure was part of "a standard rotational process".
Novaya Gazeta was one of the few remaining outlets in Russia that openly criticised Russia's war on Ukraine and the Kremlin's policies. Its closure leaves the country with few independent media voices able to report critically on the government.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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