Last independent newspaper in Russia forced to shut down

The newspaper announced its closure in a video statement shared on YouTube, citing forced cessation of work by Russian government and special services. The announcement came a day after staff learned they were being evicted from their Moscow newsroom on Potapovsky Lane, where journalists had worked for nearly 30 years.

At the same time, the donation system enabling readers to support the paper was switched off, eliminating its only remaining source of funding. The Anna Politkovskaya Museum, housed in the journalist's former office, will also close with the newspaper.

Historic publication

Founded in 1993 with funds from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's Nobel Peace Prize, Novaya Gazeta became the standard-bearer for investigative reporting in post-Soviet Russia. It exposed corruption and human rights abuses, including Politkovskaya's reporting on the war in Chechnya.

Press crackdown

Politkovskaya was gunned down in Moscow in 2006, becoming one of multiple journalists killed in allegedly politically motivated assassinations. In 2021, the newspaper's then-editor Dmitry Muratov was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for defending freedom of expression.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Novaya Gazeta suspended operations after warnings from the state media regulator about violating 'false information' laws. A court stripped the outlet of its media license that September.

Media landscape

With Novaya Gazeta's closure, no major independent newspapers remain operating in Russia. Independent radio station Ekho Moskvy and TV Rain network had already shut down under similar pressure. Some Novaya Gazeta staff launched a European outlet, which Russian authorities have blocked access to domestically.

Katya Kotrikadze, news director for TV Rain now operating in exile, told CBS News the closure was unsurprising. 'Putin has burned all the bridges and has stopped all the imitation of democracy and freedom of everything in Russia,' she said.

Sokolov stated the staff would now 'end on the street, with no means of subsistence and under the constant threat of repression.' Novaya Gazeta said it would provide more information about its future in the coming days.