Novaya Gazeta Closes Its Russian Newsroom After More Than 30 Years

Novaya Gazeta ceased operations inside Russia on Monday, November 9, after more than three decades, the United Kingdom and Finland said in a joint statement. The closure ends the newspaper’s work from its longtime Moscow newsroom after restrictions that its editors blamed on Russian authorities. In its October 30 statement announcing the closure, the newspaper said: “Russian authorities and Russian security services forced the editorial team to stop working.” It said an eviction notice coincided with the shutdown of the system through which readers donated, cutting off its financial support. The editors said they were leaving their home on Potapovsky Lane, where they had worked for 30 years. The newspaper’s statement also described earlier restrictions on its operations. It said its online resources had been blocked, its printing facility taken away and its media registration revoked. Many members of staff had been forced to leave Russia, according to the editors. The UK and Finland, acting as co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition, recalled the newspaper’s investigations into corruption, repression and human-rights abuses. They remembered journalists including Anna Politkovskaya whose work had cost them their lives. The two governments expressed solidarity with journalists inside Russia and in exile, called for the unconditional release of unlawfully imprisoned journalists and urged Russia to uphold its international human-rights obligations.