The quiet death of Novaya Gazeta: How a once-powerful newspaper refused to leave Russia — and slowly lost its voice

Detailed summary

Novaya Gazeta, once one of Russia’s most influential independent newspapers, shut down on Monday, bringing an end to an institution that had survived years of Kremlin pressure but had been steadily stripped of its staff, reach and ability to publish. The newspaper announced its closure on Oct. 30, citing relentless pressure from Russia’s security services.

Staff of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper pose with its publications and a flag outside the newspaper's offices as it ceases publication in Moscow, Russia, on Nov. 9, 2026. (Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP via Getty Images)

Novaya Gazeta, once one of Russia’s most influential independent newspapers, shut down on Monday, bringing an end to an institution that had survived years of Kremlin pressure but had been steadily stripped of its staff, reach and ability to publish.

The newspaper announced its closure on Oct. 30, citing relentless pressure from Russia’s security services.

In recent years, Russian authorities have blocked its website, arrested members of its staff on dubious charges, and branded its journalists "foreign agents."

The final blow, according to the newspaper, came when Novaya Gazeta, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov, was evicted from its offices and cut off from the donation system that had allowed it to raise funds directly from readers.

"Over the years they received so much abuse, not just from the authorities, but from Russian citizens."

"In this country, human rights and freedoms have been destroyed, and their defense is treated as a crime," the newspaper said in a statement announcing its closure. The statement bore the title: "They have killed us."

With the death of Novaya Gazeta, another relic of pre-war Russia disappears, swallowed by an increasingly totalitarian state that has spent years dismantling the institutions, freedoms and remnants of civil society that once existed beyond the Kremlin's control.

Few Russian news outlets matched Novaya Gazeta's legacy. The newspaper was founded in 1993, partly with the money given to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev when he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Kyiv Independent. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.