Russian Authorities Strangle Independent Press as Novaya Gazeta Faces Forced Closure

The editorial team at Novaya Gazeta is packing boxes and preparing to vacate their longtime headquarters.

Cardboard boxes and plastic bags line every corner. Everything must be cleared out.

For three decades, this publication stood as Russia’s leading independent voice, delivering investigative journalism that fearlessly challenged those in power.

Now, Novaya Gazeta is being forcibly evicted from its longtime home while also losing access to reader donations. The publication accuses the Russian government of systematically destroying it.

“There are different ways to commit murder,” says journalist and co-founder Dmitry Muratov. “They chose to strangle us.”

“First, they blocked our websites and banned print editions. Then they revoked our media license. One by one, we were branded ‘foreign agents’ while our journalists faced attacks. Now we cannot earn revenue anymore. Banks refuse donations from our readers. Political repression has reached us.”

In 2021, Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts “to safeguard freedom of expression, a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.” However, the Russian government still designated him a “foreign agent” in 2023, a label frequently used to silence government critics.

Throughout its history, Novaya Gazeta earned international recognition for its bold investigative work exposing corruption, human rights violations, and abuse by officials and bureaucrats—topics made perilous under authoritarian rule.

The publication reports that six of its journalists were killed for “fulfilling their professional and civic duty,” including Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated in her apartment building’s stairwell twenty years ago this month. She had reported extensively on the Chechen conflicts.

While walking down a corridor, I noticed the preserved office Anna once used. After her death, the room remained untouched, becoming a memorial museum. Since the eviction began, most artifacts have been removed, leaving only her desk and a portrait of her resting atop it.

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