Novaya Gazeta announces it will cease operations on November 9

Novaya Gazeta, which Russia’s Ministry of Justice listed in the foreign agents register, announced it would cease operations. The newsroom linked the decision to its eviction from its building and refusals by banks and payment services to provide service.

Novaya Gazeta, which Russia’s Ministry of Justice listed in the foreign agents register, announced on October 30 that it would cease operations. The newsroom said employees would leave the office and shut down the servers on November 9.

The newsroom said the decision was prompted by an order to vacate the building in Potapovsky Lane urgently, where it had operated for around 30 years. It said little time had been provided to move out and that it had been unable to find new premises.

Financial reasons

The newsroom also linked the decision to financing problems. Editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov said that after the publication was added to the foreign agents register, it was unable to restore its donations system, while banks and companies refused to provide services, citing internal rules. The newsroom said payment-processing services had refused to serve the newspaper.

Dmitry Muratov (archive, 2023)

“This means the newsroom’s financial death, and on top of that, we are left without premises,” Sokolov said.

Russia’s Ministry of Justice added Novaya Gazeta to the foreign agents register on September 4, 2026. The publication had previously been stripped of its media registration, and its websites were blocked. The Economist reported that the decision to close was made at a staff meeting on October 26.

33 years of work

Novaya Gazeta was founded in 1993. Its longtime editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2021; the Ministry of Justice later also added him to the foreign agents register.

Novaya Gazeta Europe, established in 2022 by journalists who had left Russia, is a separate media outlet.