Putin can no longer claim victory in Ukraine, Nobel Peace Prize winner tells BBC

What the report says

Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov told the BBC that Vladimir Putin can no longer claim victory in Ukraine, arguing that the war has gone on for nearly five years and cannot be counted as a success for Russia. Speaking from Moscow in an interview with BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg, Muratov said the conflict has instead brought destruction and warned that continued escalation could raise the risk of nuclear use. The BBC report says he stopped short of predicting what Putin will do, saying no outsider can know what is in the Russian president’s mind.

The interview was set against the backdrop of Muratov’s long-running work at Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper he co-founded. He described the outlet’s offices as largely empty and said the paper was effectively shut down after its printing presses were nationalised and its registration revoked. According to the BBC, access to the newspaper’s website has also been blocked inside Russia, reflecting a wider tightening on free expression since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Muratov also used the interview to highlight the treatment of critics inside Russia, saying many people have been labelled as “foreign agents,” “extremists” or “terrorists,” and pointing to political prisoners and jailed journalists. The BBC reported that he believes fear still helps keep the Kremlin in control, while Western leaders have often mixed criticism of Russia with continued commercial ties. The comments add to broader concerns, commonly noted by rights groups, about repression of dissent during wartime.