Novaya Gazeta closes offices after Kremlin pressure
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vanguard
Novaya Gazeta, the independent Russian newspaper co-founded by Dmitri Muratov, held its final editorial meeting and emptied its Moscow offices on 9 November. The closure comes after pressure from Russian authorities, who had notably designated the newspaper a foreign agent, according to Vanguard.
The independent Russian daily Novaya Gazeta held its final editorial meeting and emptied its Moscow offices on Monday 9 November 2026, after announcing last month that it was closing under pressure from the Russian authorities. Its editor-in-chief, Sergei Sokolov, notably took down photographs of murdered journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya.
Novaya Gazeta, founded in 1993 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, was one of the few Russian media outlets to openly criticise the authorities and the war waged by Moscow in Ukraine. The newspaper had been designated a “foreign agent” and several of its journalists had been detained or questioned.
Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said last month that the authorities and special services had forced the editorial team to cease its activities. Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International condemned the closure, while UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called it another blow to independent media in Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, described the closure of Novaya Gazeta on Monday as a “normal cycle of change”. He rejected the idea that independent Russian media were disappearing, saying that Russia's media landscape remained diverse and competitive.
