Novaya Gazeta to Shutter Moscow Newsroom in November 2026

A Legacy Forged in the Chaos of 1993

Founded in 1993 with the financial support of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Novaya Gazeta emerged from a staff walkout at the high-circulation daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. As described by co-author Kirill Belyaninov to Meduza, the early newsroom was a shoestring operation where reporters typed stories on two computers in a bar, eventually handing out their first print run on the streets of Moscow because they lacked any distribution infrastructure. The outlet quickly distinguished itself through high-stakes investigative work. Journalists Dmitry Muratov, Vladimir Filin, and Belyaninov conducted an investigation into Russia’s black market for nuclear arms. The original group of approximately 60 people who left the Komsomolskaya Pravda newsroom in protest on November 13, 1992, included Dmitry Muratov, now a Nobel laureate, Sergei Kushnerev, who was managing editor at the time, and Sergei Kozheurov, the then-deputy editor-in-chief. Early investigations, including work into “the party’s gold,” relied on scouring Communist Party Central Committee archives and building personal contacts.

The Mechanics of Risk and Reporting

Investigative standards in the early 1990s were fluid, relying heavily on personal contacts rather than formalized institutional protocols. Belyaninov noted that his access to the Defense Ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, which oversaw nuclear weapons, provided a level of transparency that was unique for the time. Journalists at that time felt they had unprecedented access to government officials. According to Belyaninov, the team did not coordinate with state agencies, but Vladimir Filin arranged backup through his police and FSB contacts for meetings with potential arms dealers. This era, characterized by rapid political transition, allowed for a period of relative journalistic freedom that the staff used to challenge existing power structures.

Eviction Notice Forces Newspaper Office Closure

The current closure follows a systematic campaign of state pressure that has crippled the organization’s ability to function. According to Mediazona, editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov received an eviction notice for the newspaper’s historic Potapovsky Lane office in late October, with a deadline to vacate by November 9. This move forces the closure of the internal museum dedicated to Anna Politkovskaya, the renowned investigative journalist assassinated in 2006. “Portraits of our fallen friends are being taken down from the walls,” Sokolov wrote to readers. “A move to nowhere lies ahead.”

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reports that the crackdown has included a 13-hour police raid on the premises in April, the seizure of equipment, and the prosecution of investigative reporter Oleg Roldugin on charges of illegally using personal data. The newspaper’s financial lifeline was effectively severed in September when the Russian Justice Ministry branded the outlet a “foreign agent,” leading domestic banks to block reader donations. “The Russian authorities and the Russian security services have forced our editorial team to cease its operations,” the outlet stated, noting that in September, more than 100 of its journalists and contributors were added to the “foreign agents” register. Following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, some staff left to create the Latvia-based Novaïa Gazeta Europe, while the team remaining in Russia faced repeated questioning and searches of their homes. A final issue is still set to be published before the newsroom shuts down its servers.

Impact on Independent Media

The closure changes the options for people who relied on the outlet for coverage of human rights abuses and state corruption. As reported by beninwebtv.com, while the editorial team that remained in Russia is shutting down its servers, the legacy of the reporting persists; RIMA and Kronika are making the complete Novaya Gazeta archive available to the public to mark World Digital Preservation Day.

For the American public and international observers, the loss of this archive and the ongoing repression of the newsroom highlight the narrowing space for dissent. Six of the paper’s contributors—Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, and Natalya Estemirova—were murdered in connection with their work over the last 30 years. Anthony Bellanger, General Secretary of the IFJ, stated that the pressure on the outlet represents “one of the most shameful attacks on one of Russia’s most respected independent media outlets.” Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary of the EFJ, added, “This is an extremely sad day for Russia and for independent journalism.”