Ukraine war: Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov’s paper closes amid Russian pressure
- Novaya Gazeta is suspending operations for the duration of Moscow’s ‘special operation’ – the term authorities insist the media must use for its invasion
- The country’s leading independent newspaper was given a second formal warning from regulator Roskomnadzor, triggering the shutdown
Russia’s leading independent newspaper suspended operations on Monday after pressure from Russian authorities, a move that comes less than six months after its editor won the Nobel Peace Prize for his paper’s courageous reporting under difficult circumstances.
The paper, Novaya Gazeta, said it will remain closed for the duration of what the newspaper referred to in quotations as “the special operation” in Ukraine, the term that Russian authorities insist media must use.
The newspaper was the last major independent media outlet critical of President Vladimir Putin’s government after others either shut their doors or had their websites blocked since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
The trigger for the shutdown was a second formal warning from the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor, which has increasingly taken on the role of a censor in recent years. Novaya Gazeta had long had a difficult relationship with the government.
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Philippine journalist Maria Ressa wins 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Russia’s Dmitry Muratov
Novaya Gazeta’s long-time editor Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa, a journalist from the Philippines, in October. Muratov said last week he was donating his Nobel medal to be auctioned off to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees and called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.