Citing government pressure, Russia’s top independent newspaper closes its office after three decades

Novaya Gazeta, widely regarded as Russia’s leading independent newspaper, has closed its Moscow office after three decades, saying government and security-service pressure forced its staff to stop working there. Its departure removes the last major Kremlin-critical media outlet still operating inside Russia, amid a wider crackdown that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Founded in 1993, the paper investigated human rights abuses and corruption; six of its journalists were killed, including Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. Authorities fined it, labelled it a “foreign agent”, blocked its online platforms, seized its printing house, revoked its media registration and shut down its reader donation system. Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said he hoped it would return, while some former staff now work on the separate Novaya Gazeta Europe project abroad.