Novaya Gazeta, the most famous independent newspaper in Russia, closed its headquarters in Moscow on Monday, citing “continuous pressure” exerted on it by government officials, according to what the Associated Press reported.
The newspaper was the last major independent media outlet critical of the Kremlin, and it is still active inside Russia. As for other media outlets, they closed their doors or moved their activities abroad, after President Vladimir Putin sent his forces to Ukraine in February 2022.
In a statement published on October 30, the newspaper said that Russian authorities and security services “forced our editorial team to stop working.”
She added: “Human rights and freedoms have been eliminated in this country, and defending them is now treated as a crime. Elections and elected governing bodies have effectively been dismantled, civil society institutions eliminated, and freedom of conscience and human dignity trampled.”
It is noteworthy that the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” was founded in 1993, and quickly became famous for its bold reporting and commitment to exposing human rights violations and corruption in Russia.
Six of its journalists, including Anna Politkovskaya, who covered atrocities committed during the Second Chechen War, were killed at the beginning of Putin's first presidential term. She was shot dead inside the apartment building where she lived in 2006.
The French authorities waited nearly a month to file official accusations against Iran of being behind what Paris considers part of the cyberwar that targeted, on October 11, the refrigerators of major stores spread throughout French territory, as remote manipulation of temperatures led to the disruption of refrigerators and the destruction of frozen goods.
This campaign falls within the framework of a wave of cyber campaigns that affected Europe and the United States. This is the first time that France has officially pointed the finger at Iran and threatened to take countermeasures.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced on Monday afternoon that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was behind a series of attacks targeting France, adding that the investigation was still ongoing. In a preliminary measure, Barrow announced the summoning of the Iranian ambassador to France to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Available information indicates that electronic hackers changed refrigerator temperature meters, and that the operation affected at least 350 large stores in all French regions.
However, the effects of the attack were extremely serious; The temperatures in some refrigerators rose to very high levels, causing them to catch fire. In the hours following the breach, supermarket employees moved boxes filled with spoiled meat and melted ice cream into huge dumpsters.
This operation was followed by another, more dangerous operation, as it targeted blood banks and refrigerators in which the amounts generated from donations are kept, and which are used in emergency cases.
Also, Barrow threatened to impose more European sanctions on Iran. The October attacks were followed by a second wave of electronic hacks this month, targeting more than 100 facilities across Europe, and also affected refrigerators used in French blood banks, forcing employees to transfer some blood units to other cold storage units.
“unprecedented”
It is noteworthy that Paris revealed the results of the investigations conducted by its agencies, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is hosting a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven, which includes the largest liberal economies in the world, and the Iranian file is attended during the two days of the meetings (Monday and Tuesday).
In the evening, the French Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement saying: “France condemns in the strongest terms the unacceptable cyber attacks carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran on its territory and targeting its interests during the night of October 11 to 12.”
The statement explained that the cyber attack campaign “targeted control units in the refrigeration systems of major stores... and caused massive material damage, fires, and food losses estimated at tens of millions of euros.”
France considered that these attacks “represent a serious attack on French national interests and the security of French citizens, and they are also considered unprecedented in terms of their size and level of aggression, as they represent the first cyber attack campaign carried out exclusively for the purposes of sabotage on French territory.”
The statement went on to precisely specify the party that carried out the attacks, as it stated that “after completing the investigation work, France was able to assign responsibility for these acts of sabotage to Iran, as they were carried out by the offensive cyber attack unit called (Shahid Kawa), affiliated with the Electronic and Cyber Warfare Center in the (Revolutionary Guard),” adding that this party “is considered a continuing threat to French vital infrastructure.”
In Paris’s view, “these disruptive cyber attacks cannot be justified or tolerated, and they contravene international law.” It also violates the principles of the United Nations Normative Framework on the Responsible Conduct of States in Cyberspace, which the Islamic Republic of Iran has previously agreed to.
The French Foreign Ministry recalled that “the Iranian cyber threat to French interests is not a new matter, as Iran has previously carried out several actions aimed at destabilizing France, targeting in particular the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2023, as well as the organization of the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.”
Paris also recalled that, in March 2026, the European Union adopted sanctions against the Iranian entity “Emnet Pasargad,” “which contributed to the implementation of these cyber attacks.”
From description to threat
After the description, the time of threat came, as the Foreign Ministry considered that “according to the National Cybersecurity Strategy for 2026, France is determined to use all means of response available to it, including within the framework of the European Union and in cooperation with its European and international partners, in order to anticipate, prevent, deter and confront destabilizing and sabotage acts that target it in cyberspace.”
In addition to summoning the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry, Paris will propose to its European partners the adoption of new sanctions against Iranian entities and individuals involved in this cyber attack that targeted them, as well as in other malicious electronic activities. Finally, France reserves the right to take any additional measures, whether declared or undeclared, that it deems necessary and proportionate to respond to these cyber attacks.”
The Paris Public Prosecution Office got involved, announcing that it had requested the issuance of international arrest warrants against the leader of the “Shahid Kawa” group, which is the offensive unit for electronic operations linked to the “Revolutionary Guard,” and his two deputies.
Even today, a group of countries, including the United States, accuses Iran of responsibility for cyber attacks targeting it.
It was not long ago that the file of French citizens who were imprisoned in Iran on various charges, most of which dealt with espionage, and whom Paris considered “state hostages,” was closed.
Also, France was the only European country that maintained high-level diplomatic contact with Iranian officials. President Emmanuel Macron met with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York, on the sidelines of the work of the United Nations last September.
Paris is keen to maintain communication with Iran, without having a weak position regarding its ballistic missile program, or what France considers to be a threat to stability in the Gulf region.
There is no doubt that the latest development will push relations between the two countries to a stage of escalation, when it will be known when it will start, and no one knows how it will end, nor whether it will affect France’s approach, which rejects the resumption of the war in the Gulf, and calls for finding another path.
