Key facts
- Novaya Gazeta will cease operations on November 9.
- Russian authorities and security services forced the editorial team to end its operations.
- The newspaper was designated a 'foreign agent' by Moscow.
- Authorities revoked its media license in 2022.
- Journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested in April and is awaiting trial under house arrest.
Russia's independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced Friday that it is shutting down after what it described as a relentless campaign by authorities. The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Sergei Sokolov, stated that Russian special services forced the editorial team to end its operations, with servers to be shut down on November 9 after 30 years of existence.
Russia has intensified its crackdown on independent news outlets since launching its full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, introducing sweeping censorship rules. Novaya Gazeta, which has often been highly critical of the authorities, was designated a "foreign agent" and had its media license revoked in 2022.
Earlier in October, Sokolov's home was searched over a criminal case involving journalist Oleg Roldugin, who was arrested in April and is awaiting trial under house arrest, which was extended until November 10. The paper's then editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was a co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel peace prize for safeguarding freedom of expression.