Prominent Russian newspaper shuts down under pressure from authorities

What the report says

Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s best-known independent newspapers, is shutting down after what it says was sustained pressure from the authorities. In a statement on its website, the paper said the Russian state and security services had forced it to stop working. BBC’s Moscow reporting said the outlet had received an eviction order and also lost access to the reader-donation system it used to finance publication, leaving it unable to continue.

The newspaper has long been known for investigative reporting on corruption, human rights abuses and official misconduct. It also said that six people linked to the paper had been killed over the years in connection with their work, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in 2006. The closure follows a broader crackdown on independent media since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when new laws and other measures sharply expanded pressure on critical voices.

BBC reported that Novaya Gazeta had already faced multiple restrictions, including the revocation of its licence, website blocking, the designation of some staff as “foreign agents,” and recent police actions involving editors and journalists. Even so, it had continued in reduced form, with readers using virtual private networks to access its content. The shutdown marks a significant setback for one of Russia’s most prominent remaining independent newsrooms and reflects the wider decline in press freedom described by the paper and by BBC’s reporting.