Novaya Gazeta shuts down and leaves its Moscow office
The Russian investigative newspaper said a campaign of state pressure made it impossible to keep reporting. It had been named a foreign agent, ordered out of its offices, and cut off from reader donations by banks.
Co-founder Dmitry Muratov spoke to journalists who gathered in Moscow on Monday to see the closure. He said people in Russia who advocate for peace had lost the right to read what they choose. He also said the part of the constitution that guarantees political and civil rights had effectively stopped working.
Muratov blamed the Kremlin for waging the war in Ukraine and for suppressing free speech. He said Russia holds around 4,000 political prisoners. He urged people to tell the Russian authorities apart from the Russian people.
The Kremlin denies that Russia has any political prisoners. It says the country is taking necessary action to prosecute subversive activity. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the closure as part of a rotational process in a fiercely competitive media environment.
Journalist Irina Vorobyova wrote on the newspaper's website that its spirit would survive, like a good virus. Six of its journalists were murdered over the years.
Key facts
- Who
- Dmitry Muratov (Novaya Gazeta co-founder, former editor-in-chief); Dmitry Peskov (Kremlin spokesperson); Irina Vorobyova (journalist at Novaya Gazeta); Mikhail Gorbachev (last Soviet leader, co-founder of Novaya Gazeta)
- What
- Novaya Gazeta closed after it said a campaign of state pressure made it impossible to keep reporting, following its designation as a "foreign agent", an order to vacate its offices, and banks halting processing of reader donations. Co-founder Dmitry Muratov urged free speech and human rights in wartime Russia at the closure.
- When
- 9 November 2026
- Where
- Moscow, Russia, Ukraine
- Status
- Reported