'Novaya Gazeta', an independent Russian newspaper critical of Putin, closes

It was one of the last independent newspapers openly critiquing Russia's war with Ukraine. Founded in 1993, Novaya Gazeta has long been considered a bastion of independent journalism reporting on human rights abuses. Its closure was announced on YouTube in late October by editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov, dealing a blow to what remains of Russia's independent media. Novaya Gazeta is ceasing to exist. We will turn off the lights in our office, where we have been based for 30 years. We will switch off the servers and leave. The newspaper is no more. The Russian authorities have forced the editorial team to end its work. The end of Novaya Gazeta is the latest in Russia's crackdown on dissenting voices. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the paper has lost its media license, had its website blocked and its journalists have faced home raids and detention. Former editor-in-chief and Nobel Prize winner Dmitry Muratov also had to step down after being declared a foreign agent. We represent the interests of that large part of society that spoke out against war and bloodshed. That is precisely why what is being done to us now is being done. The newspaper was labelled a foreign agent, but not just the newspaper. More than a hundred people connected to its work were labelled as such as well, including authors and journalists. Let's listen to Justin. The newsroom also served as a tribute to the six journalists murdered for their work, like Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in her apartment block in 2006. She had been investigating Russian military abuses in Chechnya. Her office, preserved exactly as it was for 20 years, could be relocated to Latvia, where two-thirds of the newspaper's staff moved after the start of the war in Ukraine.