Russian investigative newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” stops publishing after warnings from the Kremlin
Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, whose editor Dmitry Muratov was one of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, said on Monday it would suspend its online and print activities until the end of Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine.
The investigative newspaper, which has already removed material from its website about Russia’s military action in Ukraine in compliance with the new media law, said it received another warning from state communications organization Roskomnadzor on Monday about its reporting, which prompted it to cease operations.
“We are suspending publication of the newspaper on our website, social networks and print until the end of the ‘special operation on Ukrainian soil”,” the newspaper wrote on its website.
In a separate letter to readers, Muratov and his reporters said that the decision to stop their activities was difficult but necessary.
“There is no other choice,” the note said. “For us, and I know, for you, it’s a horrific and difficult decision.”
Roskomnadzor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In comments published by Russian news agencies, the authority said it had issued a second warning to Novaya Gazeta for its failure to correctly identify an organization that authorities consider a “foreign agent” in its publications.
Pressure has been mounting on Russia’s liberal media since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine last month, with most major media outlets and state-controlled organizations sticking closely to the language the Kremlin uses to describe the conflict.
Novaya Gazeta’s announcement comes after the shutdown this month of Ekho Moskvy radio station, which was one of the few remaining liberal voices in the Russian media. Authorities have also blocked the websites of several media outlets, including the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
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On Monday, the Ministry of Justice added Germany’s Deutsche Welle newspaper to a list of media organizations it designated as foreign agents.
Readers of Novaya Gazeta and anti-Kremlin activists lamented that the newspaper could no longer function in the current Russian media environment.
“I would really like Roskomnadzor to stop its work,” the team of imprisoned political activist Andrei Pivovarov wrote on Twitter.
Established after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Novaya Gazeta and its reporters have been subjected to intimidation and attacks for years due to investigations into rights abuses and corruption.
When choosing the Nobel Prize winner last October, Muratov said he dedicated the award to the memory of six journalists working for his newspaper who were killed for their work.
(Reuters)
