Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last independent investigative newspapers, announced on Friday that it will cease operations on November 9, with its editors saying Russian authorities forced the newsroom to shut. The closure was reported by The Moscow Times and by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
What the editors announced
Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov made the announcement in a YouTube video. “Novaya Gazeta has been killed. Novaya Gazeta is ending its existence,” he said, according to The Moscow Times. He added: “The Russian authorities and security services have forced our newsroom to shut down.”
The Moscow Times reports the paper plans one final edition before turning off its servers and vacating its office in central Moscow on November 9. The outlet says it is unclear how many people will lose their jobs. RFE/RL reports that the editors posted on Telegram, “They killed us,” a day after authorities began evicting the remaining staff.
The claim that the state forced the closure is the editors’ account. Neither outlet quotes a Russian official explaining the eviction or the closure, and neither reports a Kremlin denial.
The pressure that came first
According to The Moscow Times, Russia’s Justice Ministry designated the paper a “foreign agent” in September 2026. Earlier this month, police raided Sokolov’s apartment, questioned him and released him, as part of an investigation into managing editor Oleg Roldugin. Roldugin was arrested in April 2026 and is awaiting trial, the same report says. The charges against him are not described in the sources reviewed for this article.
The paper had already been operating in a reduced state. The Moscow Times says it suspended print publication shortly after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, citing censorship laws, and that courts later revoked its media license, forcing it online. RFE/RL dates the main suspension to March 2022, after a series of warnings from a government regulator. The two outlets differ by a month on the date; neither gives the date of the license revocation.
Reporters killed over the years
Both outlets recall the paper’s record of lost reporters, and their counts are not identical. The Moscow Times writes that six of its reporters have been killed over the years in what rights groups believe were retaliatory assassinations, including Anna Politkovskaya. RFE/RL says the staff included Politkovskaya and at least five others who were killed or died under suspicious circumstances. It names Igor Domnikov, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova and Natalia Estemirova as killed for their professional and civic work. It also names Yury Shchekochikhin, who died suddenly in July 2003; colleagues have suggested he was poisoned.
Neither count is an official tally, and the attributions to the state in individual cases are findings of rights groups and colleagues, not of a court in every instance. This article does not reach beyond what the two outlets state.
International reaction
RFE/RL quotes United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk calling the closure a “devastating blow” to the remaining independent media in Russia. The UN statement is posted on the UN human rights office website; this article relies on RFE/RL’s quotation of it.
What is not established
Several points remain open. No Russian official has been quoted on the record explaining why staff were evicted. The number of employees affected is unknown. RFE/RL notes that some staff opened a European edition in Paris in 2024 with support from Reporters Without Borders; neither report says what happens to it after November 9. The paper’s own announcement, posted on its website and Telegram channel, was cited by the outlets but was not independently reviewed for this article.
The facts that stand: the editors have announced a November 9 shutdown, staff were being evicted, a foreign-agent designation was applied in September, and the managing editor is jailed pending trial. Whether those steps amount to a deliberate state campaign, as the editors say, is their claim, and one the Kremlin has not addressed in the reporting available.
Sources
- The Moscow Times, Oct. 30, 2026: Novaya Gazeta announces closure
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Oct. 30, 2026: Novaya Gazeta closure report
- UN human rights office: statement by Volker Turk
How this article was made: Right Side News researched and drafted this article with the help of AI tools. Sources are linked so readers can check them. Spot an error? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it.