Leaving a cry for ‘freedom of the press’… Russian independent media closes after 33 years amid Putin crackdown

“We will survive. And one day this nation, caught in terrible times, will rise, and then we will return.”

Foreign media outlets including Reuters reported that Novaya Gazeta, an independent investigative media outlet in Russia, ended operations and closed its office in central Moscow on the 9th (local time).

It has been 33 years since it was founded as a daily newspaper in 1993. This media outlet explained the reason for its closure by saying that it could no longer report due to government pressure.

Co-founder Dmitry Muratov gave a speech to reporters gathered in the office for the last time to witness the closure, appealing for press freedom and human rights in wartime Russia.

“As is happening to us today, supporters of peace in our country have been deprived of the right to read what they choose,” Muratov said. “The provisions guaranteeing political and civil rights in the current Russian constitution have virtually ceased to function.”

Regarding the war in Ukraine, he called for the local ceasefire in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, mediated by U.S. President Donald Trump's wife Melania Trump, to be implemented in a broader region.

In addition, they demanded that the Russian government release about 4,000 political prisoners.

The closure of Novaya Gazeta marks the end of one of Russia's most influential independent media outlets, Reuters said.

Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said he believed it would one day be reprinted "with even greater influence."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov downplayed the meaning of the closure, saying, "It is just part of a 'circulatory process' in a fiercely competitive media environment."

Novaya Gazeta was jointly founded by Gorbachev and Muratov with capital raised from the Nobel Peace Prize money received by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990.

Since its establishment, Novaya Gazeta has gained a reputation as an independent media outlet through investigative reporting on corruption and politics.

As they were a thorn in the side of the Russian government, reporters from this media suffered all sorts of hardships related to their reporting.

Six journalists were murdered, including Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who did investigative reporting that highlighted allegations of human rights violations by the Russian military during the Chechen war, and was found dead in her apartment in October 2006.

As the Russian government strengthened censorship laws and put pressure on independent media after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Novaya Gazeta stopped publishing paper newspapers and published articles only online.

In 2023, two years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Muratov was designated by the Russian authorities as a 'foreign agent', equivalent to a spy, and resigned from his position as editor-in-chief shortly thereafter.

Last month, the Russian government designated Novaya Gazeta as a foreign agent and ordered it to vacate its offices.

In addition, banks put pressure on all sides, including stopping processing of reader donations, which were the source of money for this media outlet, which eventually led to its closure.

In an article published on its website, the newspaper's reporter said that the spirit of Novaya Gazeta would survive like a "good virus," and that "not even a nuclear explosion could destroy it."

It is known that it is unclear whether the media will reorganize and attempt to publish new publications in a different format.