Novaya Gazeta to close Moscow offices and switch off servers on 9 November

The closure announcement

Novaya Gazeta said on Friday, 30 October 2026 that it will end its operations. The editorial team announced that on 9 November it will close its offices in central Moscow, switch off its servers and leave the building it has occupied for three decades. An eviction order has been issued, and the system that collected reader donations has been deactivated. The paper blamed Russian authorities and security services for forcing its team to stop work.

In a video posted to YouTube, director Sergei Sakalov (one Skai report spells the name Sokolov) read out the message himself.

“On 9 November we will switch off the lights in the home where we lived for 30 years, close our servers and leave. The newspaper no longer exists.”

Background and six deaths

Founded in 1993 with money from the Nobel Peace Prize that Mikhail Gorbachev had received, the paper became known for investigations into corruption, political power and human rights violations. Six journalists and contributors were killed because of their work. Among them was Anna Politkovskaya, who documented war crimes in Chechnya and was shot dead in Moscow in 2006. Dmitry Muratov, a co-founder and former editor, won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize and dedicated it to the six dead colleagues. Earlier in 2026 Russia's Justice Ministry had labelled the paper a "foreign agent".

Pressure since the 2022 invasion

After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, pressure on independent media intensified. Russian authorities adopted stricter censorship legislation, with multi-year prison sentences provided for some reporting. The paper, which had openly opposed the war, lost its licence in 2022 and suspended its print edition, but kept publishing online from its Moscow office. Muratov, speaking to AFP, described the closure as part of a 'gigantic military campaign' by the Kremlin and said the paper was an element the authorities had to destroy.

“We did not die, they killed us, along with the Constitution.”

Muratov added that the only thing left was to laugh at Article 29 of the constitution, which states that censorship is prohibited.

Criminal case against staff

In April 2026 Russian authorities searched the paper's offices after criminal proceedings were opened against journalist Oleg Roldugin. He was arrested and questioned, and he is under house arrest awaiting trial. One report says he faces a charge of illegal access to computerised information. In mid-October Sergei Sakalov was taken in for questioning in the same case, and his home was searched.

Reactions and what comes next

The Norwegian Nobel Committee condemned the forced suspension of the newspaper. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement that the closure dealt another blow to independent media, and he urged Russian authorities to stop measures that prevent coverage of serious issues of public interest.

“It is a new harsh, devastating blow to the independent media that still remain in the Russian Federation.”

The editorial team wrote that more than 30 years of work would end with its journalists on the street, without means of subsistence and under constant threat of repression. The closure is scheduled for 9 November 2026.