Novaya Gazeta announced its Moscow closure, citing cumulative pressure from Russian authorities.
Why it matters: The announcement ends the newspaper's Moscow operation, though it does not identify a public government order formally shutting the newsroom. The paper attributes the closure to cumulative official actions, while the independently reported search and legal restrictions provide documented elements of that pressure.
- Novaya Gazeta announced the closure on October 30, 2026, with a final issue planned for November 9.
- The Justice Ministry's September 4, 2026 foreign-agent listing named Novaya Gazeta and more than 100 affiliated journalists and contributors.
- Police searched the newsroom for roughly 13 hours on April 9, 2026, seized computers and documents, and arrested executive director Oleg Roldugin.
- Novaya Gazeta says six of its journalists were killed in connection with their work, including Anna Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova.
Novaya Gazeta said on October 30, 2026, that cumulative actions by Russian authorities and security services had made continued Moscow operations impossible. Its closing statement cited the loss of its office, funding channels, media registration and online access, and said: "They have killed us." The newspaper, rather than a publicly identified government shutdown order, is the source of the causal claim that the cumulative pressure forced the closure.
Editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov said staff members "got together, weighed all the factors, and made the decision as a group." He added: "They took away our office and our means of supporting ourselves. And we didn't survive." The paper said it had been ordered to leave its historic premises and that its donation-processing system was disabled.
Police searched the newsroom for roughly 13 hours on April 9, 2026, seized computers and documents, and arrested executive director Oleg Roldugin in a criminal investigation involving alleged unlawful handling of personal data. The European Federation of Journalists reported that Roldugin faces a potential sentence of up to six years.
On September 4, 2026, the Justice Ministry's foreign-agent listing named Novaya Gazeta and listed more than 100 journalists and contributors affiliated with it. The number comes from the ministry listing as described in the dossier, not from an independent count by Novaya Gazeta.
Novaya Gazeta was founded in 1993 with financial assistance from Mikhail Gorbachev, according to the Associated Press. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, authorities blocked the paper's website, revoked its media registrations and restricted its publishing, the AP reported. Editor Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa.
Novaya Gazeta says six of its journalists were killed in connection with their work. They included Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in 2006, and Natalya Estemirova. The AP has also described the newspaper's history and its exiled outlet, Novaya Gazeta Europe.
By the numbers
- 1993 - Year Novaya Gazeta was founded
- 13 hours - Approximate length of the April 9, 2026 newsroom search
- 100-plus - Journalists and contributors named in the Justice Ministry listing
Yes, but: The closure is documented through Novaya Gazeta's announcement and independently reported enforcement actions, but the dossier does not identify a public government order formally requiring the newsroom to shut.
What's next: Novaya Gazeta said it planned to publish a final issue on November 9, 2026.