Russia’s Novaya Gazeta to cease publication amid Kremlin crackdown

We were murdered. It's with those words that the remaining members of Novaya Gazeta, Russia's flagship independent newspaper, announced they could no longer fight state repression and were forced to shut down. On November the 9th, we will turn off the lights in our office, where we have been based for 30 years. We'll switch off the servers and leave. The newspaper is no more. The Russian authorities, the Russian special services have forced the editorial team to end its work. The announcement comes 20 years after the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, whose reporting for the newspaper exposed human rights violations in Chechnya. Several people were convicted over her murder, but those who ordered it have never been brought to justice. Several other Novaya Gazeta journalists have also been killed. Others have been assaulted, and members of its staff continue to face criminal prosecution. Meanwhile, the newspaper's legal status has gradually deteriorated. Five years ago, it received international recognition When its editor-in-chief won the Nobel Peace Prize for defending freedom of expression. Novaya Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and troll factories, despite the killings and threats. Editor-in-chief Muratov. has refused to abandon the newspaper's independent policy. The policy never changed, but after its journalists were harassed, their homes searched, after its printing presses were seized and its license revoked, after its funding channels were shut down and after it was labeled a foreign agent last month, Novaya Gazeta says it has been left with no way to survive.