Novaya Gazeta Shuts Down Under Kremlin Pressure
· World · France 24, Bloomberg, New York Times
Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's last independent newspapers, announced its closure on Friday after authorities searched the home of its editor-in-chief, Kirill Martynov. The paper cited mounting pressure from the Kremlin as the reason for ceasing operations. The move follows a years-long campaign by Russian authorities to silence critical media, including the 2021 murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya and the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to editor Dmitry Muratov. Muratov had previously suspended the paper's print edition in March 2022 after Russia passed laws criminalising "fake news" about the military. The digital edition continued until now. No official statement from the Kremlin was reported.
Why it matters
The shutdown eliminates a rare source of independent reporting inside Russia, further narrowing the information space for Russian citizens and reducing external visibility into domestic repression.
Read the original report — France 24
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