Seoul Gazette - Independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta shuts under Kremlin pressure

The closure of Novaya Gazeta -- one of the last outlets to openly criticise Russia's offensive -- marks a new low in Moscow's campaign against dissenting voices that gained speed after the Kremlin sent troops into its neighbour in 2022.

Since then, the newspaper, long considered a bastion of independent journalism, has seen its media license revoked, journalists and editors questioned, detained, and their homes searched.

It was also branded a "foreign agent" -- a label reminiscent of Soviet-era repression used to stifle dissent.

"Novaya Gazeta has been killed. Novaya Gazeta is ending its existence," editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said in a statement published on YouTube on Friday morning.

In the emotional video, Sokolov said that "the Russian authorities -- the Russian special services -- have forced the editorial team to end its work."

Founded in 1993 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Novaya Gazeta was one of Russia's most reputable and renowned organisations reporting and documenting human rights abuses.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, donated some of his Nobel Peace Prize money to help set up the paper.

- 'Finished off' -

Several of its reporters have been murdered in killings widely seen as retribution for their work.

They include Anna Politkovskaya, who spent years investigating allegations of abuses by Russia's military during its campaigns in Chechnya.

She was found dead in her apartment block on President Vladimir Putin's birthday in October 2006.

Founder and former editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his efforts to safeguard freedom of expression at the helm of the paper.

He had to formally step down from the post two years later after being declared a "foreign agent".

"For nearly five years of war, we managed to operate while completely surrounded by intelligence services. But now, that's it. We've ended up in a kill zone," Sokolov said on Friday.

"This isn't just our own private story -- it's the story of a country and a society that are being finished off in exactly the same way."

The paper, which used to be published several times a week, cut down production inside the country after the war began, but its online version was still available despite court orders.

In recent months, the Russian authorities searched the home of Sokolov and earlier this year arrested one of its journalists, Oleg Roldugin.

Charged with "unlawful access to computerised information", he pleaded not guilty, according to state media, and is under house arrest pending trial.

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

"Human rights and freedoms have been abolished, and their defence has been equated with a crime," Sokolov said in the video statement, adding: "Beliefs have become state treason."

"The murder of Novaya Gazeta is yet another piece of evidence. All these years we wrote precisely about this, for as long as we could. Thank you to everyone who listened to us. And the final issue will come out."

G.Seong--SG