Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta shuts Moscow office
Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper founded in 1993, closed its Moscow office on 9 Nov 2026 after authorities labelled it a foreign agent and ordered it out of its premises. The newspaper says state pressure from the Kremlin and security services forced it to stop operating, after more than three decades. Russian banks were barred from processing reader donations, its online resources were blocked and its media registration revoked. The Kremlin, through spokesman Dmitry Peskov, described the closure as a normal turnover in a competitive media landscape. The Telegram channel was to run until midnight, while the print edition was declared closed.
Key facts
- Founding editor Dmitry Muratov, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, called the situation a crime against human rights and freedoms.
- Mikhail Gorbachev co-founded the newspaper and used part of his 1990 Nobel Peace Prize fund as seed money.
- Staff removed portraits of six murdered journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, from the newsroom walls at the final meeting.
- Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said the idea of Novaya Gazeta would continue in other forms and hoped it would return.
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Why it matters
Novaya Gazeta was described as the last major independent Russian outlet critical of the Kremlin still active.
What changed
First published from ABC News (US), DW, BBC News, PBS NewsHour and NBC News