Novaya Gazeta plans to end its publication on Nov. 9 after losing its office and reader-donation system, with the newsroom also set to take its servers offline.
The editorial staff announced the plan Oct. 30 and blamed Russian authorities and security services, writing, “We have been killed.” It said there would be one final issue but gave no date for its publication.
Amnesty International said landlords demanded the newsroom’s departure and financial groups declined to serve the newspaper after its foreign-agent designation. The rights group said private organizations carried out those immediate measures. Russia’s Ministry of Justice separately added Novaya Gazeta to its foreign-agent register Sept. 4.
It said the outlet had spread claims about government decisions, policy and the electoral system that the ministry considers false. It also listed opposition to what it calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine, along with the outlet’s distribution of material from or interaction with other foreign agents.
Amnesty said the paper had faced restrictions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022: authorities blocked its online resources and removed its media registration, the group said. Amnesty also reported that investigators spent 13 hours at the newsroom on April 9, 2026, in a case involving alleged unauthorized computer access and personal-data violations. Journalist Oleg Roldugin was arrested in the case and later placed under house arrest, the group said.
The newspaper’s own 2008 anniversary article dates its first issue to April 1, 1993. In its closure statement, the staff said six colleagues had been murdered for their professional and civic work. Amnesty said Russian readers who rely on independent investigative reporting would lose a source when the paper closes. The newsroom has set Nov. 9 for its office departure and server shutdown.
