Russia: the Novaya Gazeta newspaper officially closes its editorial staff

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Moscow (AFP) – The Novaya Gazeta newspaper, a historic bastion of the independent press in Russia, held its last editorial conference on Monday and emptied its premises, after announcing its closure last month under pressure from the Kremlin.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 2:20 p.m.

Images published by the Russian media Ostorozhno Novosti show the editor-in-chief, Sergei Sokolov, taking down from the wall the portraits of journalists from the editorial team killed in the line of duty, including that of Anna Politkovskaya.

One of the founders of the newspaper and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dmitri Mouratov, also came to tidy up and classify some last papers, noted an AFP photographer.

Members of the editorial team then took to the streets brandishing copies of the newspaper. A sign reading “Novaya Gazeta lived here” was hung on the exterior wall.

In a joint statement, the United Kingdom and Finland, which co-chair the Coalition for Media Freedom, a network of around fifty member states, called on Russia on Monday to “end the repression of independent media”.

Created in 1993 with the support of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, Novaya Gazeta focused on all delicate themes: the crimes of the Russian army, the corruption of the elites, the Wagner group, or even the repression of homosexuals in Chechnya.

The newspaper paid a high price for this commitment: six of its journalists or contributors were killed, including Anna Politkovskaya, who documented war crimes in Chechnya and was assassinated in Moscow in 2006.

Dmitri Mouratov, former editor-in-chief, told AFP at the end of October that the closure of the newspaper was part of the "gigantic military campaign" led by the Kremlin since the start of the large-scale Russian offensive in Ukraine.

Since 2022, Novaya Gazeta has had its press license revoked, while several of its journalists and editors have been put under pressure, placed in police custody and their homes searched.

The publication was also designated a "foreign agent" in September, a label used to stifle dissent.

Asked Monday about the end of Novaya Gazeta, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said it was a "normal cycle of change."

“It would be wrong to say that the era of independent Russian media is coming to an end. Russian media are very diverse and are developing in a highly competitive environment,” he said.

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