Russia: Critical newspaper 'Novaya Gazeta' to close

The independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced that it is shutting down and ceasing operations under pressure from state authorities who recently searched the home of its senior editor.

"They've killed us," read a statement published on the newspaper's website on Friday morning.

"The Russian authorities — the Russian special services — have forced the editorial team to end its work," added editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov in a video statement. "On November 9 we will turn off the lights in our home, where we have lived for 30 years. We will shut down the servers and leave."

Founded in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Novaya Gazeta (Russian for "New Newspaper") was one of the few remaining critical media outlets in Russia, known for its investigations into corruption and its critical coverage of Russian politics.

It has always operated under pressure from state authorities but circumstances have deteriorated dramatically since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the Kremlin introducing near-Soviet levels of media censorship.

The vast majority of independent journalists have been forced into exile and those who have remained in Russia have been designated "foreign agents" — a label which imposes a wide range of restrictions in everyday life including on the right to earn income from rent, interest payments or royalties from intellectual work.

A former Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief, ​Dmitry Muratov, dedicated his 2021 Nobel Peace ​Prize to six colleagues who were killed because ​of their work — including Anna Politkovskaya, who spent years investigating allegations of abuses by the Russian military in Chechnya and was found dead in her apartment block on President Vladimir Putin's birthday in October 2006.

"More than 30 years of life together with our country and its citizens will now end on the street," wrote the newspaper in its editorial, "without a basis for existence and under constant threat of repression."

The announcement of the outlet's closure comes two weeks after veteran editor-in-chief Sokolov was questioned by investigators in Moscow over "unlawful use of personal data" in connection with a criminal case against a colleague, Oleg Roldugin.

Roldugin had been detained and charged with obtaining "unlawful access to computerized information," an offence that carries a prison term of up to 10 years. No further details were given and Roldugin has pleaded not guilty.

International media rights groups have slammed the targeting of the Novaya Gazeta, with Reporters Without Borders calling on the Kremlin to "put an end to the judicial harassment" of its journalists.

In its editorial, the Novaya Gazeta wrote that its closure reflected the state of modern Russia under President Putin.

"This isn't just our personal story; it's the story of a country and a society that are being finished off in exactly the same way," it wrote.

"Human rights and freedoms have been eliminated and their protection has been equated with a crime. Elections and elected bodies have been de facto eliminated. Public institutions have been dismantled. Freedom of conscience and human dignity have been trampled. Private life has been turned inside out by dirty hands.

"The courts have been destroyed, along with the law and the rule of law. Holding one's own convictions is now treason. But treason is when a state betrays its own Constitution. And this treason is an ongoing crime, currently unfolding before the eyes of the entire world."

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the evacuation of stranded residents from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky began on Friday as a localized US-brokered ceasefire continued to hold into a fourth day.

Captured by Russian troops early in the war in 2022, locals had endured food, water and medicine shortages for months, with some being forced to hunt and eat pigeons, residents told the AFP news agency.

The population of Oleshky has since dropped from 24,000 to about 2,000, many of whom were on Friday set to be evacuated either to Russian-controlled or Ukrainian-controlled territory.

"Evacuation and distribution of humanitarian aid have begun," said Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia while Russia's human rights ombudsman Yana Lantratova posted a video showing groups of people waiting to board buses.

The local ceasefire— announced by US First Lady Melania Trump last week — is the longest pause in fighting anywhere in Ukraine since the 2022 invasion. It is due to end on Sunday evening.