The editorial team’s announcement
Sergei Sokolov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, announced in a video statement on YouTube on Friday that the independent Russian newspaper is ceasing to exist. He stated, "Novaya Gazeta is ceasing to exist," and added, "The Russian authorities – the Russian special services – have forced the editorial team to end its work." Sokolov said, "Novaya Gazeta has been killed," and explained that on November 9 the team will turn off the lights in the home where they have lived for 30 years. He added, "We will shut down the servers and leave our home." This follows authorities searching Sokolov’s home this month in connection with a criminal case involving his colleague, Oleg Roldugin, who was arrested in April. The Russian authorities have introduced near-Soviet levels of censorship since sending troops to Ukraine, which pushed the vast majority of independent journalists into exile and led to Moscow labeling the publication a "foreign agent" to stifle dissent.
Pressure on the publication
Oleg Roldugin is currently awaiting trial while under house arrest that has been extended until 10 November. He was detained and charged with "unlawful access to computerized information," but the state provided no details regarding the specifics of the charge and Roldugin pleaded not guilty according to the state RIA news agency. The pressure on Novaya Gazeta intensified after the February 2022 offensive on Ukraine began. During that same year, the Russian authorities revoked the media licence of the paper and labeled the publication a "foreign agent" to stifle dissent. The newspaper, which is a bastion of independent journalism in Russia, also cut down its production inside Russia after the offensive in Ukraine began. The then editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, jointly won the Nobel peace prize in 2021 for his "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression" while he was at the helm of the paper.
